A True Hero's Passing

Thanks to former POTY Kerry D'Orio for posting this in Facebook...  As you know, I can never disclose why someone is chosen as a Peep of the Week, but in this case, you have a great clue.

Kerry Russell D'Orio shared Steve Kapner's photo.

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  "Shifty" By Chuck Yeager
  
  Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy
   Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st
  
   Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the
  
  History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10
  
  episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.
  
  I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't
  
  know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having
  
  trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was
  
  at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle," the symbol of
  
  the 101st Airborne, on his hat.
  
  Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne
  
  or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the
  
  101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served,
  
  and how many jumps he made.
  
  Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so,
  
  and was in until sometime in 1945 ..." at which point my heart
  
  skipped.
  
  At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training
  
  jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . do you know
  
  where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.
  
  I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I know what
  
  D-Day was." At that point he said "I also made a second jump into
  
  Holland , into Arnhem ." I was standing with a genuine war hero ...
  
  and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of
  
  D-Day.
  
  I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said
  
  "Yes... And it 's real sad because, these days, so few of the guys are
  
  left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip."
  
  My heart was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.
  
  I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in
  
  coach while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to
  
  get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came
  
  forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have
  
  it, that I'd take his in coach.
  
  He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are
  
  still some who remember what we did and who still care is enough to
  
  make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it.
  
  And mine are brimming up now as I write this.
  
  Shifty died on Jan. l7 after fighting cancer.
  
  There was no parade.
  
  No big event in Staples Center .
  
  No wall-to-wall, back-to-back 24x7 news coverage.
  
  No weeping fans on television.
  
  And that's not right!
  
  Let's give Shifty his own memorial service, on line, in our own quiet way.
  
  Please repost to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans.
  
  Rest in peace, Shifty.
  
  Chuck Yeager, Maj. General [ret.]
  
  P.S. I think that it is amazing how the "media" chooses our "heroes" these days...
  
  Elvis, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston & the like.