As many of you know, my family has had many veterans. We have had veterans in every war since WWI. This is usually personal, because I have had a death of a family member in a few of these wars including the latest.
On Sunday, I went to the Cheshire Memorial Day parade, which I did not attend the past two years because of personal obligations. I filmed approximately six minutes of the parade. I know many of you asked what happened half way through the filming. I was crouching on the side of the road near the Congregational Church to get a better angle, and when I went to get up my old legs gave out and I fell. Luckily I did not damage the camera but the sound went out for a few minutes.

As I think of Memorial Day, I remember attending the funeral of my “Uncle” Dan in January of this year. My “Uncle” Dan, was not really my uncle, but I very close to him. He taught me my love of cars. I used to go down to Airway Motors on Barnum Avenue in Bridgeport when I was a kid and hang out there with him.
Well, in January of 2007 “Uncle” Danny passed away. He was in his mid-80’s and was a World War II veteran. In fact, “Uncle” Danny was a paratrooper under General Patton. He fought in Sicily and Italy. “Uncle” Danny rose to the rank of Sargeant. One day after a battle, “Uncle” Danny and his men were going through a town in Southern Italy. They went house to house searching for Germans. “Uncle” Danny entered a home and happened to spot a wedding photo. It was a wedding photo of his oldest brother! Can you believe that! What are the odds of a person being sent away to war and stumbling into a home with a wedding picture of his brother sitting on their mantle. Pretty remarkable. Anyway, it turns out “Uncle” Danny would sneak over to the house at night and give his relatives some of his rations and extra food. Unfortunately, the military did not look favorably on his kindness. He did what he did because these people were starving. The military demoted him to private, but he was honorably discharged with the purple heart for being wounded in battle.
No-one but his closest relatives ever knew about this remarkable story until it was told at his wake. Amazing. I will miss “uncle” Danny. He was a kind man and a loving father and just an all around great guy.