Memorial Day was officially created to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in our nation’s military. For many, the holiday is also a time to reflect back to close ones that have passed away. On this day, I often reflect back to my grandpa, Andy Chlebeck. I am sure many of you had a grandfather (or father or great-grandfather) like him: a World War II veteran that was humble, hard-hard working, and of high character. Tom Brokaw was right on the mark when he christened them “The Greatest Generation”.
Grandpa’s days as a young man had several interesting twists and turns that had him cross paths with some significant figures and moments of the 20th century. Grandpa was not one to talk much about himself. But as I entered my college days and beyond, I learned how to get him to open up and reflect back to his younger days. He grew up as one of 16 children in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was a very good all-around athlete. And by ‘all-around’, I mean that sometimes between innings of a high school baseball game, he would run over to the track and do the high jump! Landing in saw dust, no less! Anyhow, he was fortunate to earn an athletic scholarship to play football and baseball at the University of Notre Dame.
In football, he was a career back-up playing under the legendary coach, Frank Leahy. One day after seeing an ESPN documentary about the coach, I asked grandpa his thoughts.
To my surprise, he said that Coach Leahy was not very popular with most of the team. After further prodding, he told me about the end of a practice where the coach was addressing the team as they gathered around him. The sun was setting behind the coach, causing Grandpa to squint as he listened to the coach.. Leahy thought that Grandpa was laughing and promptly kicked him off the team for the next week or so. Not quite as inspirational as Rudy! Well, at least Grandpa and his buds seem to be having a little fun bench-warming together (or more like bench-colding?).
After his passing over a decade ago, one artifact I came across was a football program from his senior year. Even more interesting than the fact that it was from the ND-USC rivalry game was the date of it: November 22, 1941. Little did anyone know that two weeks later, the world would change forever with the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Baseball at South Bend was a completely different story for Andy. He loved it, and eventually became a captain. Gotta love this old-school yearbook pose!
Upon graduation, he joined the Marines. His talents as a ball player gave him the opportunity to play on the diamond in Hawaii and other Pacific Islands to entertain troops. And he got to play against some true legends of the game. One guy was a Yankee. I think he sold some coffee or something…
Joe DiMaggio!!!
His biggest highlight, though, when he got 4 hits against another Yankee, Hall-of-Fame pitcher Red Ruffing.
Grandpa shared very little of his time as a soldier. All I really knew is that he got shot in the hip while fighting in the pivotal battle on the island of Iwo Jima. Thankfully, I got a good idea of his experiences by reading James Bradley’s best-selling book, Flags of our Fathers. The book details the lives of 5 Marines, climaxing with their own experiences fighting on that same Japanese Island. A very poignant moment in the book describes a group of Marines slowly working their way up Mount Siribachi as thousands of troops were fighting all over the small island. Eventually, the squad reached the top and raised the American flag. At that moment, Iwo Jima, in the author’s own words, “was transformed, for a few moments, into Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Infantrymen cheered, whistled, and waved their helmets. Ships offshore opened up their deep, honking whistles.” They even snapped a picture of the moment:
I remember being very emotional while reading about this, and asked my grandfather about it. He matter-of-factly said, ‘yeah, I remember that.’
By the way, on Iwo Jima, they quickly took that flag down to preserve the moment. They quickly replaced it with a smaller flag. I think they might have got a picture of that one as well:
We often forget that extraordinary moments often include everyday men.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day, and take time to Thank God for the blessings and freedoms we have due to the sacrifices of so many brave individuals. And thank a Military veteran as well.
Thank you, Grandpa. I miss you!