Memorial Day

Hello.

It's Monday morning, Memorial Day, and I wanted to give a shout out to all the military men and women serving to make our nation safe.

THANK YOU for all you do for us. The sacrifices of time, family, money, safety, and even life, all so we can be free.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And my own special thank you to a man I never knew, but who carries a special place in my heart . . . my grandpa, Park J. Conklin.

He served in WWII as a staff sergeant, trained troops in the early part of the war for the Pacific front, and in the later part of the war fought in the European front.

He received a Bronze Star for saving the lives of the men in his unit, though he never told anyone in our family what he did. To this day, we still don't know. He was also one of the soldiers who helped liberate the concentration camp at Dacau.

From all the recounts of his life that I have heard, he was a silent man who loved his family and friends. He was a farmer at heart, a wonderful husband and provider, a firm but loving father, and later in life a doting grandfather. He loved his wife, family, church, community, and his country.

He passed away from leukemian before I was born, but he is not forgotten.

One day I will inherit the locket he gave my grandmother just before their wedding . . . the same necklace my mother wore when she married my father . . . the same locket I wore when I married my husband. And I hope one day the locket my daughter will wear when she gets married.

That is the romantic legacy he has passed down through our family, and I will treasure this memory always.

Later.