Veteran's Day in the San Francisco Bay Area was not a very pleasant place. The air was so smokey and considered unhealthy. Actually anything over 100 is considered unhealthy, and it was about 135 that day. There had been worse days and kids were going crazy and teachers too because everyone had been told to stay inside for days. The schools had decided to close and so there were those people threw all caution to the wind and went to the farm.
Meanwhile, the Patterson House had been so busy preparing for the decoration marathon coming up. Veterans Day had not entered our consciousness. So I rushed over before opening and put up the flag and started digging around to find things to put out for the day, even if we weren't going to have but a possible handful of visitors. In that quest, I found something very special.
Back in a closet, I found this wonderful display. And I just realized I hadn't shared it on the blog.
This was all in a display frame, a picture of a young World War I soldier, a medal of honor, another medal for different places he had served during the war, his "dog tag" and a New Testament.
There was no notation on the back of the frame telling who the soldier was or any other information.
Then looking at the pieces in the frame carefully, I figured out the name on the dog tag was John H Callow. The dog tags then didn't have a number on them, just a name. I then remembered one of our Patterson House Docents, Marge Callow. Since then I have found out that she donated this display to the House. It was of her father so it makes it so special. She has since passed on but is remembered as a wonderful teacher, a great docent, and a very proud daughter of a brave veteran.
This was a medal awarded to those that served in battle areas in France. On the back it mentions the "War to Save Civilization". We sure have gone through a lot of them since that one.
So we put out this little display and a few WWI posters. But I did think of John Callow and the things he must have seen in his young years. And I thought of Marge and thanked her for sharing her dad's experience with us.
Meanwhile, the Patterson House had been so busy preparing for the decoration marathon coming up. Veterans Day had not entered our consciousness. So I rushed over before opening and put up the flag and started digging around to find things to put out for the day, even if we weren't going to have but a possible handful of visitors. In that quest, I found something very special.
Back in a closet, I found this wonderful display. And I just realized I hadn't shared it on the blog.
This was all in a display frame, a picture of a young World War I soldier, a medal of honor, another medal for different places he had served during the war, his "dog tag" and a New Testament.
There was no notation on the back of the frame telling who the soldier was or any other information.
Then looking at the pieces in the frame carefully, I figured out the name on the dog tag was John H Callow. The dog tags then didn't have a number on them, just a name. I then remembered one of our Patterson House Docents, Marge Callow. Since then I have found out that she donated this display to the House. It was of her father so it makes it so special. She has since passed on but is remembered as a wonderful teacher, a great docent, and a very proud daughter of a brave veteran.
This was a medal awarded to those that served in battle areas in France. On the back it mentions the "War to Save Civilization". We sure have gone through a lot of them since that one.
So we put out this little display and a few WWI posters. But I did think of John Callow and the things he must have seen in his young years. And I thought of Marge and thanked her for sharing her dad's experience with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment