Again, thank you all! I wanted to add a note about my Dad's own brave service, during WWII.
Daddy enlisted February 2, 1945. After all his training he was deployed to the South Pacific, and was scheduled to be part of the invasion force to Japan, when the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. After this, Dad told me that had things not occured as they did, he likely would not have made it to Japan. Several Japanese submarines surface in the waters all around where their ship was travelling.
Daddy spent ten months in Japan when he received word, his Dad, Dean's oldest brother had drowned in a freak accident during a flood. Grandpa Harry, (Dean and my grandfather's father) lost two sons in less than two years. I can't imagine the pain he must have endured.
A few days before he died, my Dad told me he became a lifetime member of the Piper Aviation Museum, here in Lock Haven, PA, because his Dad was his hero, and he wanted to get a memorial brick for him to be placed in the memorial walkway. Dad was a lifetime member for four days when he died. At Dad's funeral, I gave a eulogy, and shared with everyone, that I too, am going to become a lifetime member of the museum so that Daddy can have a brick right next to his Dad's, because like his father before him, my Dad is my hero!
Below are four pictures of Dad, the first two are during his service in WWII, the third is while he was a member of the PA National Guard.
The last photo is from Dad's memorial, his ashes are under the flag.
Thank you for endulging my sense of pride in my Dad's service. Granted he was not a pilot, but he was a very brave, patriotic American who dearly loved this country.
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