Farewell Edith Shain

Edith Shain, the woman who claimed to have been the nurse in the famous photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1945, of a sailor kissing a nurse in the streets of New York City on V-J Day (Victory over Japan) dies. Ms. Shain was 91, reminding all of us of the ending of an era. Most of us can get a visual picture in our minds of this sailor holding the nurse by the waist and dipping her for a kiss. People all around them were celebrating in the streets. This iconic photo takes its place in history, along with the photo of the soldiers erecting the American Flag on Iwo Jima, the icon depiction of Rosy the Riveter, and so many other photos and caricatures in conjunction with the second World War.

Sadly, this generation is fading away from us. I guess we can take wisdom from General Douglas MacArthur who once said: "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." The same generation that served us in Europe and in the South Pacific married the girls at home and in the factories and the shipyards. A group of men and women who moved out of the cities to create the suburbs. The same folks that started the baby boom - our grandparents - The Greatest Generation (Tom Brokaw). Although many of the men and women in my family that were a part of that generation have already passed away, today I am reminded of their steadfast commitment to this country, their families, their communities and their careers. The death of Ms. Shain should strike a chord among us that helps us to recognize that the statement "only the good die young," is not completely true.

Regardless of the fact that the days of cars with fins and hair bonnets have passed us by, we can still remember with a smile the dignity that this generation carried with them. The charm that they embodied, along with the legacy that they so tediously placed before us. We may not always go about doing things the way that they did, and we may not have the same obstacles to face. However, if we take on the world's problems with the same courage and fortitude that these great people did, we may also be able to hand off the torch with high accolades and remarks. Their example is certainly an example that history will record..

So today as we say farewell to yet another member of The Greatest Generation, a wound opens for those that have already gone and a reverence is held close for those still carrying on that banner.