Grandson and Grandfather: Birthday Portrait

I went to a birthday party today in Jersey City.

A one-year-old and his ninety-nine-and-a-half year old grandfather

I like comparing and contrasting, juxtaposing, and setting images side by side. When @seefuego’s son, the birthday boy, smiled at his ninety-nine-and-a-half-year-old grandfather, I quickly snapped the picture. Noah just turned one. His grandfather, an immigrant from the South of Italy, will turn one hundred soon. He told me he had fought during World War Two, stationed on an island in Guam. When the Americans dropped two atomic bombs on Japan — he told me, “The war was over, but it took me five months to get home. Once the transport ship arrived in Los Angeles, I had to fly home [back to New York].” He also spoke about being an Italian kid — “Growing up, I spoke a dialect of Italian, and I did not know English well. But in school, I was forbidden from speaking Italian. And I had to stand in the back of the classroom. I thought fighting in the war would prove my service to my country. So I joined the war effort. I was young.” It was remarkable hearing his story — and listening to him as Noah, his grandchild, frolicked in a space suit — his obsession. And by coincidence — his birthday coincides with the @nasa Artemis moon mission — an uncrewed spacecraft that safely returned to Earth today.

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#jersey #immigrant #immigration #birthday #italy #centenarian via stonesoferasmus.com

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