The veterans in my family

Thanks to all who serve. From my family that would be:

My Grandfather on my Dad's side - James Arthur, drafted to fight in France during WWI. He's the fine looking man holding the baby.

Great Uncle Doland (Dad's uncle) who fought in the Pacific during WWII.

My Dad, who ran away and joined the National Guard after his shotgun wedding to my Mom. Luckily he just missed Korea, and was too early for Vietnam. Good thing, if he'd run off and got shot up, they might never have had ME, which is all that matters.

My Grandpa on my Mom's side, Carl, who was drafted into the army and fought in Italy during WWII. Standing next to him is my grandma, who told me that the time she spent with her infant daughter in the home for military wives while he was gone was the best and worst time of her life. She said they all lived together in a group home, and helped each other raise their kids, and they were all very close through good and bad.

Since we're mentioning the women back home, I would also like to mention my great aunt Dorma Lee (the one on the right), Doland's sister. She ran off to work in the airplane plants in Wichita as part of the war effort, which was very adventurous for a lady her age back then. She was a 'Rosie the Riveter'! Her scrapbook is full of the fun times she had with the girls in their off hours, adventuring around without men to boss them around! At least that's how she described it :) She enjoyed her independence for the rest of her life, preferring to remain unwed and help her sister raise the kids. I spent a lot of great times hanging out with Aunt Lee, she was a really great lady.

No one in my family were in the military for a career. In fact I think they were all drafted (except my dad). Just regular people, doing what they had to do at the time, and happy to go back to their regular lives when it was over. I can't even imagine what that must have been like.Unfortunately I never got to hear what that was like from them, Doland, Jim, and Carl all passed away long before I was born.

_