Military dad no sucker

Sunday, December 7, 1941 was my father’s 18th birthday, “a day which shall live in infamy.” That day my 16-year-old mother threw him a birthday party in the basement of her family home.

The next day he registered for the draft and joined the army.

Fluent in French, two years later he was secreted into Vichy France to translate between the Allies (those also secreted in) and the Resistance.

He received a field commission as First Lieutenant.

When he came home from the war he joined the National Guard and served for decades, ultimately attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

My father was not...