Thanks Marion! Wasn't that funny? There's lots of other amusing detail in that
book. I've got lots of photos of my Dad "on manuevars". I have one which I didn't
recognize as him at first because he & his buddies are all covered in some white
substance. I killed myself laughing after I read that bags of flour were used as unrealistic
grenades during the manuevars, and the men often got carried away "killing" each other
with them. Must've been sort of a GI pillow fight. They were supposed to hurl the flour
grenades at Patton's tanks and an umpire would declare the tank "blown up".
I'm very certain that your Dad Walt and my dad Frank are nudging each other
in heaven & saying: "that's my girl Marion!" and "that's my girl Mary Ann!".
I wonder what kind of beer they have in heaven. When I was a kid, my Dad
drank either Schlitz or the local Carling Black label. He'd have a beer after mowing the lawn,
and my brother Fran & I would ask to try some. After a sip, Fran always made a disgusted face,
but not me! I wanted another sip which my father always got a kick out of, but my mother
would be APPALLED & remonstrate with him not to offer me any more.
Ha! Too late! To this day - I do love beer!
Shortly after my mother died, I dreamed that I was with her in a house and
I heard footsteps on the 2nd floor & asked: Is Daddy here, Ma?" and she rolled her
eyes in mock annoyance & smiled & said: "Oh YES, dear. Your father IS here."
I woke up at that moment & laughed! I think it was my mother's way of letting her know
they were together again.
Here's a photo of me as a baby with Dad. I was born in 1953 - their first born 13 months
after they were married.
Mary Ann