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.
