In honor of Veterans Day, we are proud to bring you this guest post on patriotism from Ted Ashburn of Boston, MA:
A number of years ago while at home on break from college, I happened to come across a framed newspaper clipping in the attic of my family’s home that I had never seen before. It was a very modest presentation: a simple off-gold, 16×18 frame containing a red mat with a thin inner blue border. Within the borders, copied onto long-since yellowed paper, was a small article from what I would soon realize was a December 1941 edition of my hometown’s newspaper The Kokomo Tribune. There were also a number of signed messages of acclaim on the yellowed paper surrounding the article. These messages were from the former Mayor of my hometown (Kokomo, IN), the newspaper’s owner and various local military leaders among others. The title of this short article was “Patriotism.”
I read the article, then I read it again. After I read it a third time, I was in tears. I could not believe what I was reading, yet I could. I was not at all surprised by the actions that were described in the text, but I was shocked that it was just simply lying in an attic. It deserved to be displayed proudly. It read as follows:
Just like American Solders, these American girls served without question, asking only to do this “bit” for their Country. – Sgt. Whitehead
My compliments to these two fine Kokomo young ladies who served this country so well during a war emergency. – Henry E. Tisdale, Lt. Col. F A U.S.A., Commanding Indiana District
America at its best with the youth, both the boys and the girls doing a grand job. – J. S. Kileline
Sure it happened here. What else did you expect. – P. L. Haworth, Commander, American Legion
The heading is enough. “Patriotism.” – William W. Workman, Postmaster
It is indeed a privilege to have the opportunity to publish this type of action on the part of all good Americans. – R. H. Blacklidge, Owner, The Kokomo Tribune
I am happy this example of typical Kokomo Americanism has been noted. – Harold G. Frieland, Mayor
You can tell what service is best? This is how victories are won. – Glenn R. Hillis
It was a privilege to write this story. – McSeel, Reporter
My parents operated their own construction company and made a wonderful home together. Both have lived all of their lives in the small town in which they were born. They were high school sweethearts. Drafted into the Army in 1943, my father proposed to my mother from overseas while in the service, and they married soon after he returned in 1946. They then made their own way together by starting and building a construction business and raising a family where morals, the importance of hard work and manners were taught by example every day. To me, they are the best examples of what it means to be an American I have ever encountered.
I have never been able to read this article without being moved to tears. You see, Mary Schleeter was my mother’s maiden name, and she was 16 years old at the time the events in this short article took place. This framed newspaper clipping is now displayed proudly in my home, and my mother, who is now 90 years old, continues to insist that her and her friend Mary Jo’s actions on Monday, December 8, 1941 were “no big deal.” This is just one example of how Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation “Wore the Cape” when it needed to in 1941.
