Honors For An Honorable Man

Saturday the Hospice folks at the nursing home where my dad lives had a wonderful little celebration for him to thank him for his 20 years of service to his country. After he mentioned that he loved photography, they wanted to have a display of some of his photos. I printed up several photos, which they displayed at the celebration.

Here's the table with the display of photos. One of the Hospice ladies asked him about the photo of the dinosaur which was taken several years ago at Powell Gardens. Dad said to her: "You don't see many of those nowadays.." Even with his dementia, he still has a sense of humor!

Family members present L to R: My cousins Glen Cogan, Sandy Cogan (Tim's wife), Tim Cogan, My aunt Esther (Shelley) Cogan, Carl Shelley (Dad), my wife, Jolene.

Dad with some of the staff at the nursing home. Dad always had a way with the ladies - the rascal! Apparently he still does! LOL! I'm proud of him - 93 and still going....

Dad served for 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. He enlisted back when it was the Army Air Corps; before there was an Air Force. He took part in the China-Burma Theatre in WW2 - his unit flew materials over the Himalayas to resupply Chinese forces and U.S. forces stationed in China after the Japanese closed the Burma Road. His unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation by then President Franklin D. Roosevelt; the first non-combat unit ever to receive this award.

Dad was presented an award to honor him for his long service to our country.

Here I am with him - My Dad, My Hero. It was him that inspired me to pick up a camera. I still remember the first time I went with him to the photography hobby shop - I think it was at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma - and watched him develop and print black & white photos in the darkroom. From that moment I was hooked.

Dad gets a big smooch from Jolene!

It was a moving and excellent day! At 93, his memory is pretty well gone - some days he's fairly lucid, and some days he's just way off.. He still seems to recognize most of his family; most of the time. I hope the memory of this day stays with him till the end of his days.

Once again, I'm going to try and update this blog on a more regular basis. Between work (I'm on day shift now..... YAY!), family stuff, Renderosity, Facebook, and this blog, I've got a bit of stuff to keep me busy!

I'm now working on page 13 of my "Girls From T.N.A." series which appears on Renderosity, and my website (which I'm also in the process of updating).

That's it for now! *waves*
Rod