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Buy a Poppy for Daddy
Cpl. George Leslie Swearingen 1st Cavalry Division Army Date of Loss: February 22, 1951
Comments: Corporal Swearingen a veteran of World War II. In Korea, he was a was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was seriously wounded by the enemy in South Korea on September 15, 1950 and returned to duty on September 20, 1950. He was killed in Action during Operation Killer while fighting the enemy north of Chipyong-ni, South Korea on February 22, 1951.
Some setting of the scene. A very small house high on a hill, a ridge really, surrounded by trees and ravines. It has a dirt floor, a woodstove, fireplace, and a pump in the kitchen, a screen porch the length of one side of the house. There is a dirt floored cellar with shelves enough to store a winters worth of canned food. There is a barn, a well house, and a smokehouse.
All built and kept by prideful people, people familiar with hard work and the barter system. People who need their sons for the sake of love and for what love brings to us all. Loss of a son is a terrible, grievous thing.
Two men came to the house that day. I was seven and both my grandparents were raising me. Grandmother was making a pie with fruit from the tree, an egg from one of our Rhode Island Reds, and milk from the Jersey. She had flour on her hands and she wiped them on her apron as she opened the door and let them in.
They sat on the sofa and talking in low voices for a moment only. Grandmother screamed a scream that went to the heart of me. It is like a small metal ball bouncing around never settling anywhere. After all these years I cry for my father.
My mother estranged and at odds with the family after attempting to abort me and failing, hung a black dress on the wall and told us all she would dance the day he was brought home in a casket. Oh, and I’m telling you, that broke my heart.
The funeral was a horror. My mother got into a fight with my grandfather and no one would take the flag that they had folded up, so a soldier gave it to me. I kept it until our house burned down and I lost it. The casket was lowered into the grave. My mother pushed my father’s mother into the grave onto the casket. My grandmother came close to a nervous breakdown. They played taps, three rounds and then it was mercifully over.
I had my father for seven years. He loved me and my mother hated him for it. He loved to brush my long hair and braid it. It galled her to see it. He told me jokes and we laughed together. She snarled in fury.
Of course, I know now she had a very serious mental illness. There is much about this that doesn’t make sense to me so I know it won’t to you. Though I do think there are those that have similar tales to tell.
I want my daddy back.
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10 November 2009
at 5:06 p.m.
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RoeDapple (Anonymous) says…
I will buy a poppy Irish. For an American hero and his little girl.
10 November 2009
at 5:28 p.m.
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consumer1 (Anonymous) says…
Very nice story Irish. Well written story. It moved me. I am sorry for the loss of your Father.
10 November 2009
at 6:09 p.m.
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autie (Anonymous) says…
I went back and found some excerpts of that action. Honor to thy father. Those were tough days.
10 November 2009
at 9:26 p.m.
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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
I found this:
http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/mem…
10 November 2009
at 9:50 p.m.
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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
Irish, I am sorry for your loss.
I'll buy two.
10 November 2009
at 10:08 p.m.
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blue73harley (Anonymous) says…
Irish,
Very moving story. Thanks for sharing. I will think of your dad tomorrow. My dad was a WWll vet that made it home…or I wouldn't be here. He was a Marine that served in the Pacific theater.
Marion,
Thanks for the link.
11 November 2009
at 9:34 a.m.
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Irish (Irish Swearingen) says…
Thanks for the comments. It was a very tough time for me and it has effected my whole life in some way.
Marion, that is my sister Joanne. We were raised in separate families. My mother was nuts, I'll just say that.
Joanne got in touch with me though the paper and informed me that were I to abandon my black daughter and granddaughter than she might consider talking to me.
I remember her using the n word frequently.
We went our separate paths.
11 November 2009
at 9:49 a.m.
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vanguard3 (Anonymous) says…
Irish,
Your comments on parenthood make perfect sense now. Next time you talk to him or see him, give my thanks to your Dad for his service. Thanks to you for sharing the history, and not ever giving up, despite the hand you were dealt. You're a warrior in your own right.
11 November 2009
at 10:54 a.m.
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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
“Irish (Irish Swearingen) says…
Thanks for the comments. It was a very tough time for me and it has effected my whole life in some way.
Marion, that is my sister Joanne. We were raised in separate families. My mother was nuts, I'll just say that.
Joanne got in touch with me though the paper and informed me that were I to abandon my black daughter and granddaughter than she might consider talking to me.
I remember her using the n word frequently.
We went our separate paths.”
Marion writes:
Yes, Irish, I understand perfectly!
It is pretty obvious that your sister's account is the “sanitised” version; the one “cleaned up” so as to keep the skeletons in the closet, as it were and too bad that it has to be that way but families will be families…..or not…. and no fault on you, I think, for sure.
Too bad that things have to be that way but when unreasonable demands are placed on you by others, you just have to stand your ground and it is very clear that you are doing a good job of just that!
Keep up the good work and hang in there!
11 November 2009
at 6:16 p.m.
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Irish (Irish Swearingen) says…
Thanks, for the support. Of course, my daughter was hurt as Joanne called her and told her the same thing. She had been looking forward to talking with my sister.
My father's mother who raised me was very liberal, and often at odds with the racists in our family.
I hate to say this, but being abandoned by your mother can turn out to be a good thing.
Thank God, Grandmother Sallie was there for me.
12 November 2009
at 11:13 a.m.
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artichokeheart (Anonymous) says…
A friend sent me this and I thought about your blog.
http://www.bonniehunt.com/videos/?med…