One of the Greatest Men I Ever Knew
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His name was Enos. On the night he was born, the doctor advised his mother and father to make plans to bury him. He was a sickly child, and not expected to make it through the night, as rural Ohio had very limited medical facilities in June of 1900. He made it, and grew up with very limited education as his parents, unable to care for their children through what we consider "adulthood", sent him to town to make his own way at the age of 12. He found work in the mills, and supported himself with that vocation until 1916, when, on a dare from his buddies, he went into an Army recruiter's office to enlist. He told the recruiter he was 18, when in fact, he was 16, and supported it initially with a birthdate of 1888. The recruiter suggested he walk outside and refigure his math, and he came back with a more credible date of 1898.
He was enlisted, and went to serve his country in WWII. He was injured and left for dead in the second battle of the Marne. He was sent to England to recuperate, where he met his first wife. They returned, to the state of Indiana, and set about raising a family.
For reasons I do not know, their marriage dissolved, and he remarried in 1932, during the Great Depression. As Indiana is a largely rural state, it hit their family hard, and Enos went about seeking any work he could find. Seeing an ad requesting carpenters, he spent the last of the family's money on carpentry tools, which infuriated his wife. He showed up to apply for the job, with 500 other men. He was one of the five that got the job.
Carpentry was not to be his life's work, though, and he soon opened up a small mill in northeast Indiana. The mill operated until the mid 50's, and during that time he acquired land and took up farming. Times were hard, but he raised his family to work hard and succeed, and gave them a strong sense of morals. He sold the mill and took up farming full time in the mid 50's and remained at the job of farming until 1975, when his old war injuries caught up with him and he had to move to the city to be nearer medical care. He continued to deteriorate until 1980, when he closed his eyes one final time and was ushered out of this world.
Enos was a hard man, to be sure. But he worked a hard land, and he did not complain about what he had to do. He was a war hero and a patriot, and it nearly broke his heart when one of his sons turned a gun on a guard at an army base to draw a psych discharge to avoid serving in Vietnam. He was a wise man, and a leader, and it is with great pride that I say his blood runs in my veins.
He was my grandfather.
signing off,
Gideon MacLeish
He was enlisted, and went to serve his country in WWII. He was injured and left for dead in the second battle of the Marne. He was sent to England to recuperate, where he met his first wife. They returned, to the state of Indiana, and set about raising a family.
For reasons I do not know, their marriage dissolved, and he remarried in 1932, during the Great Depression. As Indiana is a largely rural state, it hit their family hard, and Enos went about seeking any work he could find. Seeing an ad requesting carpenters, he spent the last of the family's money on carpentry tools, which infuriated his wife. He showed up to apply for the job, with 500 other men. He was one of the five that got the job.
Carpentry was not to be his life's work, though, and he soon opened up a small mill in northeast Indiana. The mill operated until the mid 50's, and during that time he acquired land and took up farming. Times were hard, but he raised his family to work hard and succeed, and gave them a strong sense of morals. He sold the mill and took up farming full time in the mid 50's and remained at the job of farming until 1975, when his old war injuries caught up with him and he had to move to the city to be nearer medical care. He continued to deteriorate until 1980, when he closed his eyes one final time and was ushered out of this world.
Enos was a hard man, to be sure. But he worked a hard land, and he did not complain about what he had to do. He was a war hero and a patriot, and it nearly broke his heart when one of his sons turned a gun on a guard at an army base to draw a psych discharge to avoid serving in Vietnam. He was a wise man, and a leader, and it is with great pride that I say his blood runs in my veins.
He was my grandfather.
signing off,
Gideon MacLeish
