Our Flag & Veteran’s Day- Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.


Our Flag & Veteran’s Day

The US flag was always prominently displayed while growing up, and in 1959, the number of stars on the flag grew from 48 to 50 as Alaska and Hawaii became states. To celebrate the occasion, my mom made a cake in the shape of the new flag with 50 blueberries as the stars and red raspberries as the stripes, and white icing background. Now my wife makes the same cake every year on the 4th of July. We have a flag pole on our yard and am proud to fly the flag year around. And this tribute to our flag recently arrived in my email inbox from a friend that inspired the idea for this blog entry on Veterans Day.

Because my grandfather passed away at age 52 right before WWII, my dad received an agricultural deferment to farm the 220 acres making up two family farms; my grandfather’s and my great grandfather’s. However, his 5 younger brothers all went into the service, as did my Mom’s brothers (shown in the photo). My uncles contributed in various ways to the Allied victory, including a medic at D-Day, a naval mapping expert on President Truman’s staff, an honor guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solder, a Navy Pilot, and an officer on the destroyer USS Yosemite during the Pacific campaign. Fortunately, all survived the war after serving valiantly, ended up getting married and having a bunch of kids (I have 75 cousins!). Although Dad didn’t serve, he helped provide the food and supplies so necessary for the victory.

One other important aspect of my Dad not serving during the war came about when he would drive his sisters and their neighborhood friends to and from the local dances at Lindhaus Park every weekend. It just so happened that one of those neighborhood girls became my mother-in-law 30 years later! Fortunately that connection gained me quick acceptance to the family, otherwise who knows what might have happened, as my garb and hair at the time were very hippy-like! There’s no doubt in my mind those living during the WWII era represent the Greatest Generation, and the veterans especially accomplished amazing triumphs for which they are being gratefully honored today.