S is for Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is currently # 10 on my flickchart list.

I saw Saving Private Ryan in the theater by myself when it was released.

I had the pleasure of living with my grandparents for awhile during college and then again with Nancy before she and I got married.

Gramps spent one night going through a bunch of photos and telling us the stories behind his getting shot down, life in the prison camp and about his eventual liberation.  Nana chastised him, stating that he would have nightmares "again".  Gramps said it was important for us to know.

I also remember him telling my cousins and I the story of his getting shot down in great detail when I was still in high school.  Nana was so worried for him that night too.

I remember his story like this....he was nearing the end of his commitment   He was due to leave the theater of operations and went on one more mission.  He was a fighter pilot and told us of a fierce firefight.  He was protecting some bombers and in the course of the firefight, his plane was hit.  There was fire in the cockpit.  He tried to eject but there was trouble with the ejection system (as it was).  He managed to get out of the cockpit and rolled across the back of his plane and slammed into the tail.  He rolled off and tried to deploy his chute.  His chute would not deploy so he used his secondary chute.  The chute deployed and then almost immediately caught on fire.

He landed in a field in Yugoslavia and was discovered by some locals who cared for him until the Germans could take him into custody.

He spent the next two and a half years as a Prisoner of War.  He was even declared KIA bu the US Government!

He missed the events in this movie but I still needed to see it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I nearly forgot to blog today!  I am a school teacher and today is our first real day of Spring Break!  Of course, that means I have some household projects to tackle.  I set out today with the goal of finishing the renovation of our downstairs bathroom that we started last year after the flood.

A relatively straightforward project revealed some mold and damage we didn't find last year.  However, I've torn out some drywall and cleaned and repaired what I could.  I decided I would take a small break before finishing the floor and replacing the sink.

==========================================================

I am using my flickchart list and blogging about the highest ranked movie for each letter of the alphabet.  

Click HERE and become my flickchart friend!

Why not jump around the Blogging from A to Z Challenge and find some new blogs to read!