Photo present

My daughter-in-law, Kari, mentioned a few months ago that when talking about Veteran's Day in school, Saben (age 6) said that no one in his family had served in the military! Oops! How would a six year old know that there had been several of his relatives who served in the military? Kari said that all she wanted for Christmas was some photos of those in our family who had served. Luckily she had forgotten all about this yesterday when they opened one of the gifts from Dave and I. Here it is!

Navy wins with 3! Two army and one air force.

Beginning at the top left, Dave's great uncle Howard Fitch was a captain in the Navy. Next is Dave's dad, Ernest Young, who served in the Army in World War II. Then there is Dave in is Navy get up, served at Balboa Hospital as a corpsman caring for those back from Vietnam. Lower right is my uncle Jim Babeck who also served in the Navy. Then the most interesting is my mom's dad. Grandpa. He served in the Spanish American War (left of the 2 photos) under his real name, Benjamin Warner. After the war, he married and had a family, but his wife died during childbirth. He left his kids with his sister and changed his name to Patrick Haley. Why?? No one seems to know! Then he served in the Army in World War I, met my grandmother who had immigrated from Ireland and they married and had 3 children. He never told my grandma that he had been married before and had children. What a shock that must have been for her to discover this when he sought to get his military pension and he ran into problems since he had served under 2 names. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall when all this came down! Anyway, the last photo is of my brother, Bob Repetowski, who served in the Air Force as a helicopter repairman, serving in Vietnam and the surrounding area. Pretty scarey stuff I'm sure!

So there you have it. The youngsters need to be taught about their military heritage and why it is important that we have the military and the many sacrifices that people have made in the past to preserve our freedom and help those in other countries seek freedom from tyrants. One of Dave's relatives from way back fought in the American Revolution! THANK YOU!! Shauna and her daughters are eligible to join the daughters of the American Revolution since they are related to him by blood. I really do think that is something to be proud of.

I was thrilled to put this photo montage together and as I was doing so, remembered that though my dad didn't serve in the military (I know he tried but can't remember why he wasn't able...maybe flat feet!)  :) he served in the CCC's which many have never heard of. It was the Civilian Conservation Corps and I do have photos of my dad working at a sawmill and logging in Michigan. I never talked to him about this time in his life and I'm sad that I don't have more details. Time for some research into the CCC's to find out more.