Memorial Day

    

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 147: Today, I am grateful for Memorial Day. 

This image is new to me. It is from a collection of pictures from Mama Ina Mae's extended family. This is Lloyd Kenneth St. John, Sr.  Uncle Lloyd served in the US Army stationed in Hawaii in 1940. He was Grandma Opal Maxine's older brother. He did not die in the war. He survived Pearl Harbor, but it was a close call. 

The 1940 census records show Uncle Lloyd living in the US Army Schofield Barracks located in Honolulu and in the Wahiawa District of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, Hawaii in 1940. It lists the other men who lived with him and where they were born, too. (He was the only one born in Illinois.) Census records can be interesting. 

It is funny how that generation did not talk about some of the hard things they survived. They were full of grit and gratitude.  I never remember this being a "family story." I am grateful to have uncovered it through his branch of the family tree (thank you cousin Cindy). The story of that day is pretty incredible as it has been passed down to her, mostly through her Grandmother. 

I learned from his granddaughter that he had left one branch of the service shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, but they still lived nearby.  Uncle Lloyd had married a local girl, Emma DeLima St. John. She was born in Hawaii. Hawaii was her home. 

The young couple had two baby boys at that point. William Vernon was 16 months old and Lloyd Kenneth, Jr. was 6-weeks old. Uncle Lloyd had purchased a car when he left the Army. He had his own taxi service. Aunt Emma would make pies to sell for extra money. On his days off, they would push the boys in the stroller and sell her pies around the Base. That is what they were doing and where they were on December 7, 1941. 

When literally "all hell broke loose" they went knocking on doors to find cover from the bullets with the baby boys in the stroller. Their whole little family was there in that unforgettable moment in time. They all survived. Their car, which was their source of income, was destroyed by the gunfire. With their main source of income gone, Uncle Lloyd re-enlisted, this time in the Air Force. 

Uncle Lloyd was twenty-five. Aunt Emma was twenty. With their world crashing in and two baby boys to feed and protect, I cannot even imagine what it was like to survive such an ordeal, but they did survive. I am sure they carried the names of friends who did not survive in their hearts. 

I never want to forget that freedom is not free. Every life cut short by war has a ripple effect on families and communities. The Star Spangled Banner still chokes me up, as does Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." 

"There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." -John 15:13

Today, I am grateful for Memorial Day and a family story captured.