My Dad was in the Navy for 22 years, he went through World War II and was involved in some major sea battles such as the “Battle of Midway” and saw and experienced a lot of “action” as he called it. He had lots of stories about his experiences that I used to enjoy hearing him tell as a boy. My Dad had a very strong character trait of being responsible.  He served his country well because that was his responsibility, he worked hard and served his wife and children and took good care of them over the years because that was his responsibility, and whatever he was involved with he did his part and was faithful. I once wrote in my journal a couple of weeks after he died of liver cancer as I was writing as much as I could remember about him and his life before I forgot it, “My dad was duty driven”, he was a patriot”, and “he did the right thing because it was the right thing”.

During the Vietnam War when I was in High School and College there were lots of demonstrations by people who were against the war. A resident in the valley we farmed in hung the American flag upside down. I remember how angry my Dad got as he watched the news and saw the flag flying upside down. He didn’t say much about it all, but I could tell it really bothered him. I asked him once why the demonstrations bothered him so much and he said, “No country or government is perfect, and ours certainly isn’t, but you don’t fix things by dishonoring, you fix things by serving”.

I want to be like my Dad.