Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who died in our nation's service. The very first Memorial Day was observed on May 30, 1868 to honor the Union & Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. Living down in Georgia now, I thought this was interesting - the South didn't acknowledge Memorial Day until after World War 1, when the day was changed to honor Americans who died in any war.
My Grandfather didn't die in service, but I wanted to honor him today just the same. Here he is, Robert W. Robbins, known by his friends as Kelly.
He served in the US Navy during World War II. He told us about this one time when his ship came across a sinking German vessel. His ship was rescuing the German soldiers and pulling them up onto their boat. After a while, they noticed that some of the men that they were rescuing looked familiar. It turns out that some of the sailors on his ship were pushing these guys off , back into the ocean. Then the Germans swam around to the side my Grandfather was on and were helped back on again.
Here he is with my grandmother, Sylvia.
This picture was taken the last time we saw him in November, 2008. He passed away in February of 2009. During the last 5 or 6 years of his life, we took the kids down to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with him.
Thanks goes out to all the men and women who have served our country and helped to keep us safe.
I didn't know you had a blog! It will be fun to read regularly!
ReplyDelete