Hello Mack
Thank you for the kind praise of my Dad. It’s a comfort to know he had such a profound effect on his military buddies. To be honest, I only knew that the unit had a band, but had no idea he was involved in its formation. It’s funny that you mention your dad kept a saxophone but never played it. My story is similar.. my dad played the piano and drums. I never knew this until recently.
And only because I ran across a story in an old saved copy of a local civic associations newsletter that told of him playing for the neighborhood .
My only musical memories of him are his playing “air”drums during movies when a big band played.
I never really attended the reunions, as Mom and Pop usually went and left the kids to fend for themselves. I recall a few I went to in the 80s... Richmond Virginia, Lancaster Pennsylvania , and Canton Ohio. But yes I have to agree.... the closeness and love these men shared was incredible to witness. I have one photo of him at a reunion and the joy in his eyes is priceless. I’m sorry I didn’t realize how important it was at the time.
I don’t really know much of his military story. He (like most of the greatest generation ) kept the stories to himself. Also, I came along later in his life and I guess whatever stories he did tell about being a soldier were already told. My loss.
I know much more about his life after WWII. I have photos and I’m trying to decipher his written journal pages. They are yellow and faded, making it a slow process. And His records were destroyed in the Washington fires. Searching the internet hasn’t been very fruitful either. Every bit of new information is a surprise.
I was always riding a motorcycle ... something he was against. Said I’d hurt myself. I recently found this photo of him
