Dad's Military History

My father did something that very few people have done in their lifetime, with so many years in between … he retired, once in 1965 and again in 1988 or 1989 (forgive my lack of memory on the second). And he was kind enough to give me a copy of the press release that went to the local paper in honor of his first retirement.

This letter is fascinating, because the second page details his military history. Although, throughout life he has spoken to us about his military history, the importance of this didn’t sink in until I saw it in writing. This letter is addressed to my paternal grandmother, and she kept it, it was then given to my Dad.

Aside from the military he worked at Shop-Rite in Burlington, NJ for a short time, he also worked at Purex, and eventually ended up working at Rohm and Haus (a chemical plant) in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia for twenty-three years before retiring a second time.

My only recollection of his work was Rohm and Haus, where he worked extremely long hours of swing shifts, and only had one weekend a month off. That was the weekend that he took us camping, every month, rain, shine, or blizzard.

It is this work ethic that helped him and Mom to be able to afford to raise a slightly large family of 5 children. It is also this work ethic that made us all aware of how special our Dad really is, early on.