NORMAN LEVER : Written by Chelsea Shapard
As a child you grow up pining to go to your grandparent’s house every chance you can get. They always have goodies for you to eat, let you do all the things your parents won’t let you do, and are just so much cooler than your parents anyway. And yet our grandparents hold this history in them, these stories that could hold one enchanted for hours on end that seem to stay dormant forever, to never be heard by the younger generation until it is too late. I am fortunate enough to still have two of my grandparents with me today, and my grandfather Norman will be turning 90 this October, 90! The personal history he has could probably entrap me for hours, and with his great dry sarcasm that only my grandpa could give, would most likely make my stomach sore from great laughs through all his stories. My grandfather has been through so much in his life and yet much of it is something I am just learning about, and what I have learned in a short amount of time has made him that much “cooler” in my books than he already was.
Norman Guthrie Lever is my grandfather. He has served in the 106th Cavalry for the Illinois National Guard, went to Engineer candidate school for the U.S. Army where he was assigned to the 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore regiment, a Ranger and a hero both in my eyes and in the countries eyes being honored with the Bronze Star for bravery in battle. He served alongside the Australians after graduating from Engineer Officer Candidate School and traveled roughly 1,300 miles along the beaches of New Guinea where they cleared the beaches of mines and any other dangers. This alone conjures up images in my mind of a bravery and determination to protect that I can hardly imagine feeling, but swells with pride for my grandfather who did all this through volunteering. Because Norman had signed up for the invasion of Japan he was given a 30 day home leave while the invasion was being planned. He had served 18months and was finally given the chance to go home to his sweetheart, Rhetta. While he was home the Atomic bomb was dropped on Japan which finally ended the war. My grandfather stayed with the Army for another year before deciding to take a job in sales with a rubber company.
From what I know of my grandpa he is very systematic and particular on many things in his life like what meals he has on certain days, to how dry his dry martini needs to be made when he visits my family. So it was no surprise to me that the information he gave me was more of a history overview of what he did for our country for 18months. From all the information he sent me was a bit of pop-culture history from when he was first sent away from Rhetta. With a laugh, I can only assume was from irony, he told me that a popular song at the time he was sent away to war was, “Goodbye Dear, I’ll Be Back in A Year.” And as another song of that time says, “Now is the Hour” to learn everything we can from our “cool” grandparents, our hero’s we never knew about.
Norman Guthrie Lever is my grandfather. He has served in the 106th Cavalry for the Illinois National Guard, went to Engineer candidate school for the U.S. Army where he was assigned to the 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore regiment, a Ranger and a hero both in my eyes and in the countries eyes being honored with the Bronze Star for bravery in battle. He served alongside the Australians after graduating from Engineer Officer Candidate School and traveled roughly 1,300 miles along the beaches of New Guinea where they cleared the beaches of mines and any other dangers. This alone conjures up images in my mind of a bravery and determination to protect that I can hardly imagine feeling, but swells with pride for my grandfather who did all this through volunteering. Because Norman had signed up for the invasion of Japan he was given a 30 day home leave while the invasion was being planned. He had served 18months and was finally given the chance to go home to his sweetheart, Rhetta. While he was home the Atomic bomb was dropped on Japan which finally ended the war. My grandfather stayed with the Army for another year before deciding to take a job in sales with a rubber company.
From what I know of my grandpa he is very systematic and particular on many things in his life like what meals he has on certain days, to how dry his dry martini needs to be made when he visits my family. So it was no surprise to me that the information he gave me was more of a history overview of what he did for our country for 18months. From all the information he sent me was a bit of pop-culture history from when he was first sent away from Rhetta. With a laugh, I can only assume was from irony, he told me that a popular song at the time he was sent away to war was, “Goodbye Dear, I’ll Be Back in A Year.” And as another song of that time says, “Now is the Hour” to learn everything we can from our “cool” grandparents, our hero’s we never knew about.
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