WWII

I found Dad's eulogy the other day with a bunch of old photos. It detailed more about his trajectory from Iowa farm boy to the war overseas than I had been aware of.

According to the eulogy, Dad served in the US Army in the Army Air Force with the Fifth Fighter Squad. "He was one of the mechanics who kept the squad in the air, and as such, he was always on the advancing edge of the war to liberate Europe. He proceeded with the liberators step by step, mile by mile, from Ireland to England, England to North Africa, North Africa to Sicily, Sicily to Corsica, Corsica to Italy. He served for 3 years, and according mostly to what Ruthy told me, he contracted malaria and eventually lost most of  his teeth to decay from those years. Those were the physical scars he brought home.

I wish I had spent more time with Dad talking about his service, but it seemed he wasn't one to speak of it much. The year or two before he died he did show me a box full of letters home Grammy Coolley kept, and I read every one of them while visiting one summer with Justin. I have a lot of photos of places he was stationed and post cards of landmarks that indicated Dad saw more of Europe than most people I know, albeit in a way none of us should ever hope to. His letters home were an interesting mix of mundane camp life - asking for the ingredients for fudge so that he could mix up a batch in his helmet over a campfire to share with the boys - to redacted info on where he was and what he was up to. One of the few letters to mention Ruthy he spoke of the girl he had met in NH as having joined the WAVES, and therefore he longer wanted anything to do with her. I think being a WAVE - a navy girl - was considered a big finger in the eye to an Army guy. But it seems somewhere along the way they figured things out, judging by the cheesecake photos Ruthy sent him.

Wishing I could add more to this post regarding his service, but I do know that he kept in touch with a the WWII pilots who entrusted their lives to his skills as a mechanic. That in itself says volumes.