Proud To Be American...

                          I'VE GOT YOUR BACK 
 
I am a small and precious child, my dads been sent to fight...
The only place I'll see his face, is in my dreams at night.
He will be gone too many days for my young mind to track.
I may be sad, but I am proud... My daddy's got your back..

I am a caring mother. My son has gone to war..
My mind is filled with worries I have never known before.
Everyday I try to keep my thoughts from turning black.
I may be scared, but I am proud.. My son has got your back..

I am a strong and loving wife, with a husband soon to go.
There are times I'm terrified in a way most never know.
I bite my lip, and force a smile, as I watch my husband pack..
My heart may break, but I am proud.. My husbands got your back..

I am a soldier.. Serving Proudly, standing tall. 
I fight for freedom, yours and mine, by answering this call.
I do my job while knowing, the thanks it sometimes lacks.
Say a prayer that I'll come home. It's me whose got your back.
                      - Autumn Parker 

Robby J. Wirick
July 71- Nov 98
US Army 1989-1997

Mark Daniel Striker
Oct 1963 - July 1999
US Marines 1982-1986

Gar Schelin
1943-1970
U.S. Navy 1963-1967

Chuck Palermo
05/27/55-01/29/00
US Navy 1973-1979

Joseph D Paproski
Nov 64 - Apr 00
US Army 1988 - 1993
National Guard 1993-2000

Larry Howard Hodgson
4/29/37 - 1/12/00
US Marine Corp 1954 - 1957

Vernon Edward Gillis
2/17/37 - 2/10/2000
Navy Seaman 1955 - 1957

We may have a lot of problems here, but we also have a LOT of good people, and America is still a great country! I have faith the good people will continue to tell stories like this one. There are many, many good folks left....

ANGEL IN UNIFORM

This is a family story my father told me about his mother, my grandmother.

In 1949, my father had just returned home from the war. On every American highway you could see the soldiers in uniform hitchhiking home to their families, as was the custom at that time in America. Sadly, the thrill of his reunion with his family was soon overshadowed. My grandmother became very ill and had to be hospitalized. It was her kidneys, and the doctors told my father that she needed a blood transfusion immediately or she would not live through the night. The problem was that Grandmother's blood type was AB-, a very rare type even today, but even harder to get then because there were no blood banks or air flights to ship blood.

All the family members were typed, but not one member was a match. So the doctors gave the family no hope; my grandmother was dying.

My father left the hospital in tears to gather up all the family members, so that everyone would get a chance to tell Grandmother good-bye. As my father was driving down the highway, he passed a soldier in uniform hitchhiking home to his family. Deep in grief, my father had no inclination at that moment to do a good deed. Yet it was almost as if something outside himself pulled him to a stop, and he waited as the stranger climbed into the car.

My father was too upset to even ask the soldier his name, but the soldier noticed my father's tears right away and inquired about them. Through his tears, my father told this stranger that his mother was lying in a hospital dying because the doctors had been unable to locate her blood type, AB-, and if they did not locate her blood type before nightfall, she would surely die.

It got very quiet in the car. Then this unidentified soldier extended his hand out to my father, palm up. Resting in the palm of his hand were the dog tags from around his neck. The blood type on the tags was AB-. The soldier told my father to turn the car around and get him to the hospital.

My grandmother lived until 1996, 47 years later, and to this day no one in the family knows this soldier's name. But my father has often wondered, was he a soldier or an angel in uniform?

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Last Updated: May 23, 00
WebMaster: Louise