more stuff about Great Uncle Robert
Proof I are an engineer: The stitches holding up the hem on my right pants leg pulled out this morning, and it was too late to do anything, and I forgot to grab the emergency sewing kit on the way out the door. No one at work has an emergency sewing kit, so I decided the paperclips would work, and they do, quite nicely. I put some paperclips around the bottom on the other leg so it'll match, just in case someone actually notices, hee.
But the meat of this post is a thank-you note I got from Dad this morning. Y'all probably remember me posting about my Great Uncle Robert passing away a few days ago - well, I sent gift baskets to his surviving relatives, Grandma Eva, Aunt Lorry, and Dad. Dad sent me the following in return:
[boogieshoes],
Thank you for the basket of goodies in remembrance of Uncle Robert. It was truly thoughtful of you. I had t wrestle mom for the chocolate truffles and I lost.
As a kid growing up, we all look for heroes. Uncle Robert was mine. He joined the army prior to WWII, in 1938 I believe. He went into the cavalry, because as he put it, he was a farm boy and at least he knew what a horse was, the rest of what was offered was a mystery. You have to realize that he had only a high school education, it was the depression and there was little or no work available. Also in the back of his mind was the fact that his Uncle (an Army aviator/officer) and grandfather were killed in an auto accident in California at about the same time under suspicious circumstances. Anyway Uncle Robert went in as a private. When the war broke out, he was selected for Officer Candidate School and subsequently was commissioned a 2 nd LT. They sent him to flight school and he later became an instructor pilot for the L-4 (light aircraft).
He was assigned to the Artillery branch and he became an airborne artillery spotter and controller, flying the L-4. The L-4 was nothing more than a piper cub, no armament, no protection and the bad guys knew when you were up there they were going be hit with big guns. You became their prime target. Uncle Robert fought in Italy during the war. I have seen pictures of the places he flew that plane in and out of. It took real courage. Uncle Robert left the service after the war as Major. Private to Major in seven years, not bad!
Uncle Robert went to work for the Government after the war. He worked in several positions, but mostly in the Civil Defense arena. He finally retired as the Civil Defense director at Cheyenne Mountain Colorado. He directed Civil Defense activities in case of a nuclear attack. He worked in the hardened Command Center in the Mountain.
This all from a farm boy, with no formal education.
A hero for me. I will miss him.
Thanks again for your kind thoughts.
Love Dad
So now I know why Dad ROTC'd into the USAF in '69, instead of, say, the Navy. And I have more respect for my Great Uncle, not that I needed much help.
Salut.
-bs