Dear Daddy,
You were a WWII veteran. This was no small thing, though fighting for your country in ANY war is never a small thing. But this was a war where the WORLD came together to fight the evil and tyranny initiated by one insane human being. I only recently found out that you served as a Technician Fifth Grade, Battery C, in the 766th Field Artillery Battalion. That you received a Good Conduct Medal and an Army Occupation Medal (Italy). That you served in the African Middle Eastern Theatre as well as the European theatre. Go Dad :) I know you took a certain amount of pride with regard to your participation in this great effort, but you never really talked about it...at all. As I think so many veterans of war don't. Maybe the horror is something better forgotten. But, there was one story. One story that you told frequently enough. And that is what I always referred to as your "foxhole story". You and a few of your buddies had dug out your foxhole somewhere in Europe. While you guys were sitting in there waiting for something to happen, you decided to go out and grab some paper and a pencil so you could write a letter to your mom. In the seconds it took for you to do this, something finally happened. The foxhole you had been in just a minute before was shelled and your buddies were killed. You always told us that from that point on you knew that you were meant to return from this war. And that you discovered the reason was so that you could marry mommy and give birth to me and Lisa. And though you believed you had never done anything great in your life, your children and their children would.
Well Dad, I'm here to say that I believe you underestimated yourself. You were the only son of immigrant parents who lost everything during the Great Depression. But you helped hold your family together when your Dad died leaving a non-hearing wife, yourself and three daughters to make it on their own. You were much loved and respected by your 3 sisters because you became the "man of the family" when you were only 16 years old and did a good job of it too as Aunt Irene would atest to. You then provided for your wife and your kids. You always made sure we were comfortable. There was always food on the table and clothes on our backs. You provided us with a home and as much love as you knew how to give. Well, I think that's really something. Your daughters became professional women, one a CPA and the other a nurse who became wives and had families of their own. Your grandchildren are amazing. Teddy (aka Dietz)a Computer Engineer working with the Department of Defense and Laura, a minister with the Methodist Church. Tommy getting ready to graduate the University of Colorado as a Communications major. Jason, the math wizard, who has the strength of personality to shake the world, and Allison who will graduate Rutgers University and wants to be involved in social work. So, Daddy, you were right. You leave a legacy of good, caring, intelligent people who care about making a difference in their own little corner of the world. Thank you for getting out of that foxhole to find some paper and a pencil to write a letter to your mom. You live on in us all and will live on in our hearts forever.
Your loving daughter,
Cyndi
