Remembering my Dad on Veterans' Day- he served in World War 2 when he was barely 20.

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Here's a photo of Dad in Italy, 1944 or 45, at about 21 years old.

He is at the Roman Forum/Capitoline Hill area, standing just a few feet from the site of the Temple of Juno Moneta, a sacred site where, for over 400 years, coin was minted and stored. You can see a bit of the Coliseum in the background.

Dad wasn't able to be an Army-Air Corps pilot as he planned, because he found out during his intake physical that he was colorblind. However, he worked in reconnaissance, reading Col. Karl Polifka's aerial photos and calculating measurements of objects and buildings on the ground using a stereopticon-type device.

Just a few months before he got to Italy, his entire group of over 500 men, the 32nd Photo Recon Squadron, perished when the Liberty Ship SS Paul Hamilton was torpedoed just as it entered the Mediterranean. Dad was the only survivor, and it was because he happened to be on furlough when his group shipped out.

Dad and I used to have so much fun spending the entire Veteran's Day driving around partaking of all the free things for veterans at places like Appleby's, Krispy Kreme, Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesday, Starbucks, and even a free car wash. Dad had trouble walking and used a cane, and there was a very long line of vets for lunch at Appleby's. So I told the VERY young teen host that dad was a WW2 vet and couldn't stand on the line, and asked if we could take a number and wait in the car.

The kid replied that he didn't think WW2 veterans qualified for the free meal!

So I asked to see the manager, who thanked Dad for his service, took our order, asked what car we'd be in, comped both meals and delivered them to our car himself!

And hopefully he gave the young host a little education about what WW2 was.

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.