Monday, March 21, 2016

One family in 1945

The recent WWII discussions on the blog reminded me of a photo taken in 1945 of my dad, his brothers, a cousin, and my granddad and his brother, my great uncle.

The fellows in uniform had all been drafted and had all gone off to some of the most intense situations both in Europe and in the South Pacific. And all of them came home.

Keith and Gordon came back with CIBs, Gordon returned with two purple hearts and a lifelong case of PTSD, Dad returned with two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Air Medals, and one Australian bride. I think Dad won the competition.

My dad, Jesse, is the one in the center with the mustache. Just this year, my uncle Leon died at age 96, the last of this group to pass away.


The takeaway here: These were men.

2 comments:

Jerry Ball, RHS '65 said...

Ron, Great picture. A lot of justifiable pride in your family's contributions to national defense. Thanks for including this photograph and its story. Jerry

Ron Bergquist said...

Thanks, Jerry. I had this up on the wall in my cubicle at the Air Staff and then in every office when I was a commander thereafter. Those fellows always made me want to be better.