What did you do in World War II?
A Conversation with Dad
Hiram Roush, my father, served in the Army Corps of Engineers. Too young for WWII, he enlisted in 1945
and spent 3 years mapping islands in the South Pacific…
Dad was recalled to duty as a Reservist at the start of the Korean War.
(Pictured here at Boot Camp Ft. Belver in Washington D.C., Dad was 18 years old.)
I sat down with my father on Veteran’s Day November 12, 2010, having cake at the dining room table, and asked a simple question:
“Dad, what did you do in WWII?”
WOW! So glad I grabbed my iPhone and hit RECORD… for the next hour he told me! I had NO IDEA he was in 19 helicopter crashes (saving his pilot’s life in one of them) while doing his job, and surveying. What an amazing man. At a perky 83, the stories flowed from him as if they happened yesterday! The detail. The places. The pride. We need to HAVE those conversations!
Thank YOU to ALL who serve(d).
– Sheryl Roush
Sheryl Roush is the co-author of Heart of a Military Woman:
Stories and Tributes to Those Who Serve Our Country,
with Eldonna Lewis Fernandez.
All original and true short stories, poems, and tributes from
military personnel, their families and loved ones.