Baby Boomers elected Trump. I was born during World War II. My Uncles fought in WWII. I found the blackout curtains in our attic. I never considered voting for “Nazis are very fine people” Trump.

 “The anti-Obama tea party movement in 2009 and 2010 claimed to be built around opposition to the president’s budget policies, but it was really a backlash by white boomers and other older white Americans against the rise of a more diverse and progressive society. By 2015, Gallup found that 44 percent of boomers identified as conservative, and only 21 percent as liberal.

The racial backlash grew and helped elect Trump president in 2016. The only age group that supported Trump that year were voters over 50. The oldest boomers turned 70 in 2016, and that year Trump had his biggest win among voters 65 and older. 

As president, Trump surrounded himself with other white boomers who had turned hard right: Roger Stone (born in 1952); Steve Bannon (born in 1953); and Michael Flynn (born in 1958), among many others. Despite Trump’s psychopathic and criminal behavior, despite the January 6 insurrection, two impeachments, and four criminal indictments, boomer voters have generally stuck with him.

I know that my parents’ generation, those who fought fascism overseas in World War II, would be ashamed that so many members of their children’s cohort are now willing to give in to fascism at home.

So many right-wing boomers today claim they want a return to the America we grew up in. If that’s true, they should remember that our parents and teachers also warned us about what the Nazis wrought in Europe just before we were born.”

The

Intercept

Donald Trump and His Boomer Base

My generation has not aged well.

James Risen

February 5 2024, 6:00 a.m. 

One Christmas in my grandmom's kitchen my Aunt Martha, Aunt Angie, Uncle Fred and Uncle Lou sat at the table. I said, "Thanks for what you did."

Uncle Lou said, "What do you mean."

"If you didn't fight in the war we'd be speaking German now."

My Uncle Fred couldn't handle that. He went upstairs to his room.

Uncle Lou who fought in the "Battle of the Bulge" said Freddy had it real hard.

My Uncle Fred landed on Omaha Beach with the first wave as a combat engineer. 

He took off his boots for the first time 3 months later. 

Uncle Fred is 2nd from right. 

When my son and me watched "Saving Private Ryan" in a movie theater Jeff said, "Dad nobody's talking." as the lights came on at the end.

Saving Private Ryan Omaha Beach Scene [4K HDR]

MovieClip

Bangalores - Saving Private Ryan

Ankur Naidu

"A Bangalore torpedo is an explosive charge placed within one or several connected tubes. It is used by combat engineers to clear obstacles that would otherwise require them to approach directly, possibly under fire. It is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "Bangalore mine", "banger" or simply "Bangalore" as well as a pole charge:"

Later my son Jeff & daughter Julia would see Uncle Fred removing dead skin from the mold infection on his foot with maggots. 

I knew 2 Higgens Boat drivers. One who brought the first wave into Omaha Beach. As soon as the door came down everyone was killed except him. He turned around to go back for more troops.

Most of my male teachers in high school were World War II veterans. One was a pilot on a B-17.

There is a series on Apple TV right now. 

Masters of the Air — Official Trailer | Apple TV+

As a boy I found blackout curtains in our attic. I asked my mom what are they. I could see fear on her face. She didn't reply. 

Lukens Steel Company made Coatesville PA a military target. 

During the 1940s and 1950s, cities such as Detroit would practise blackout air raid drills. During this time, the city's Civil Defense workers would immediately activate the neighborhood air raid siren and families would be required to do the following in order:

1. Shut off all appliances, such as stoves, ovens, furnaces.
2. Shut off valves for water and natural gas or propane, as well as disconnect electricity.
3. Close blackout curtains (plain black curtains that would block light from coming in or going out). This step was changed after the atomic age began: where white curtains were used to reflect the thermal flash of the bomb, black curtains were used in World War II to prevent any airborne enemies from seeing light from windows.
4. Get to a public shelter, a fallout or bomb shelter, or the household basement, and stay there until the local police or block warden dismissed the blackout.^[14][15

FROM:

Blackout (wartime)

Gotta add more people I know who fought in World War II:

There was an Englishman who woke up in the North Atlantic when his Corvette was torpedoed by a U-Boat.

One Art School teacher Bill Falker was a cook on an LST who carried Marines to the Pacific Beaches. 

Another Art School teacher A.I. Watts was a CRAF North Atlantic bomber pilot. He looked exactly like a movie RAF officer. Just flying a 4 engine bomber at low altitude over the North Atlantic was dangerous without people shooting at you.

My boss at Jaslow Dental Lab, Ed Jaslow was a U.S. Navy signalman on Merchant Marine ships making the North Atlantic crossing. 

I can’t remember his name but I went to his funeral at St. Cecilia Cemetery. He was a WWII Marine who landed on the Pacific Beaches. There were two Marines one holding the flag and a bugler who played the sweetest taps I ever heard. 

There’s more I’ve forgotten or didn’t realize they were veterans.