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Hometown Heroes
In this part of the world, the towns put up banners with current and retired service members, paid for by family or friends and organized by volunteers. I’ve seen everything from Civil War nurses to active duty kids in basic training. Last year it started up in my hometown, and I made sure to get my dad a banner.
He was an authentic hero, part of the third wave to hit Normandy, and took over his unit after his commanding officer was killed, running things even after taking a bullet to the knee. Hence the Silver Star medal. He never talked about it; I learned a lot of the details from his medal citation.
The town hung the banners in time for the Memorial Day parade next Monday, and here’s Dad. It’s a real pleasure to live in a place where there are parades on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and the Fourth.
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What a terrific tribute to your Dad, Doug! Just wonderful.
Bravo! Was he on Omaha or Utah?
I’m almost certain it was Omaha. He was shot in the town of St. Lo, and evacuated from there.
Our town does a similar thing, but they aren’t necessarily even medal heroes. We just put up pictures of locals who have served, or are currently serving . . .
We have a memorial where bricks naming our veterans are placed. My uncle has a brick with his name.
Ours are the same. All services, all ranks. Proud of all of ’em.
Reminds me of my post from almost a year ago, about my uncle.
https://ricochet.com/1000660/rip-arnold-larson/
Another uncle, John Jongeling who was a Navy corpsman in Vietnam, passed a few months ago.