MEMORIAL DAY

I only knew my great uncle Jobe as a farmer, but before he settled on his 80-acre spread near LaFontaine, Kansas, growing wheat and veggies and milking cows, he was a career Navy man, serving form 1925 to 1947. He spent eight of those years on the USS Arizona, and had the good fortune to get transferred off it shortly before it was sunk at Pearl Harbor. While ships were getting bombed in Honolulu, he was sailing off the Aleutian Islands.

My uncle never talked much to me about being in the military service...maybe because I was just a little girl who was more intrigued with the farm. The only visible reminder of his stint at sea was a lamp in his living room made out of a torpedo shell. Other than that, and his salty language, you'd never know he'd dedicated much of his life to the United States Navy. He'd much rather talk about his cows and the weather, and I rarely saw him out of his trademark outfit: Big Smith overalls.

It has only been since his death and the much later death of his wife that I came into possession of his military records, medals, pictures, and other memorabilia--many of which are now in a framed box. My great uncle wasn't a military hero of any sort, but like many others he quietly did his duty, served his country, returned home safely, and lived an ordinary life. But he will always be an extraordinary person in my eyes.