My father served in WW II. He was stationed in Germany and France. He did not talk about his war experiences very much. Since his passing away, I have found out that he was part of The Battle of the Bulge and that his fighter group destroyed many enemies planes. At his funeral, a brother-in-law insisted on draping the flag over his coffin. I still get emotional when the Star Spangled Banner is played or a flag is waving in the wind. The vision of following Daddy's flag-draped casket out of the church will be engrained in my mind forever.
I am thankful for the men and women that have served and are still serving for our freedom. May God bless the people richly.
The following was copied from the Sherman Democrat in the 1940's:
A presidential unit citation, "for outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy" was awarded to the Pioneer P-51 Mustang group of the ninth air forces recently. The presentation was made to the commanding officer by Lt. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, commanding general. Those from Grayson county entitled to wear the blue ribbon in a gold frame over the right breast are....(4 other men)and Sgt. Kennith M. Scoggins, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Scoggins of Tioga.
The ninth air force Pioneer Mustang group was the first to fly with long range P-51 in combat. They set the distance record for fighters, while escorting bombers on deep penetrations into Germany on missions to Kiel, Berlin and later Gydnia. They destroyed more than 380 enemy aircraft in seven months of operations and were instrumental in the effective development of precision daylight bombing.
On a lighter note, Memorial Day 2011 was good. I have to say that I started out a little disgusted. Rick had been telling me that we were going to do "something". For someone who likes to go, I was excited. However, we needed a roof, and he decided that we could work during the day and play at night. So for starters, he thought I would help roof. I have always been right beside him doing whatever, and I was willing to try anything; until...he wanted me to stand up and walk on the roof top. I was on the roof setting on my bottom, but that was not good enough. I was a failure. Oh, well. We got over it.
We got lots of work done, and we played hard. We had great food and good family time. (I am on the road writing this from my iPad tethering off a friends iPhone hotspot. You have to love technology. So pictures will come later.)
Hi Marilyn - I read your post and almost cried when I read about Di's retirement. It IS going to be hard for you. However, you've survived more sadness than most people, and you will survive this. I would like to add that retirement is nice because it gives you time to enjoy the little things that you can't do when you work full-time. I'm a lot nicer and more relaxed. I highly recommend it! :)
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