Thank You, Uncle Leo

This being a holiday weekend, I had no intention of blogging today. But, all weekend, Uncle Leo has been on my mind. He’s my mother’s brother, the only one of her eight siblings to serve in World War II.

Now eighty-eight, he lives alone on the old family farm since his wife died earlier this year. How often, I wonder, with nothing to distract him, do his horrible war memories return?

• The memory of being drafted and going off to war instead of fulfilling his dream of studying history in college.
• The memory of being a foot soldier in the Battle of the Bulge.
• The memory of being left behind because the shrapnel in his foot didn’t allow him to march fast enough.
• The memory of following behind, with only his gun, in the direction the rest of the soldiers were going, wondering if he would make it.
• The memory of two showers in six months.
• The memory of wet feet and being issued dry socks.The memory of coming home with untreated trench foot.

And does he sometimes remember the good things that came after those hard years?

• The memory of his five children on the family farm, running free because so many from his generation protected our freedom.
• The memory of his nieces and nephews playing ball in the pasture, using cow pies for bases.
• The memory of picking sweet corn and sending burlap bags full of it home with his city sisters.
• The memories of his mother’s rhubarb patch and peonies, rose bushes and huge garden.
• The memories family picnics in the shady Pipestone parks that continue to this very day.
• The memory of my sister and I finally hearing his story decades later, and offering inadequate but heartfelt thanks for his sacrifice.

Because of Uncle Leo and many others from his generation, including three of Mom’s brothers-in-law, we are able to celebrate another Fourth of July as free and independent citizens. My husband is able to mow the lawn and I can blog away, without concern or fear, because of brave men like Uncle Leo, Uncle Marvin, Uncle Ordel, and Uncle Jim.

Thank you, dear uncles, for another Independence Day.