The Road to Victory.
In 1941 a young man seeing storm clouds were forming in the sky, decided to enlist in the US Marine Corps. He had a couple of months of relatively peaceful training ant then there was December 7th, 1941. A day that will live in infamy. And all at once we were at war.
Africa was his first stop, He never though he had seen so much sand. He spent a lot of time on the coast and one day and he dug up a rock. He liked it. It was pretty, and he procured a box from a buddy, took a picture of it with an index card about where he found it, and he mailed it home. He fought in Sicily, and up the boot, and before long….
Our young man soon found himself in England. And after working on helping with defense work, he found himself getting ready for D day. He was in Sussex, and guess what? Another one went home.
Soon he was coming off the beach at Normandy. The group was pinned down for the night and while on patrol that evening. He tripped over a rock. A few days later with a description he mailed it home. He fought his way across Europe and was even at the battle of the bulge. He had quite a career, but he was not done. He was only there for the first day and before his group was to be trapped, he was evacuated rock in hand, and after mailing it home, he was on a plane. Soon our marine was on his way to Tinian Island in the Pacific to get ready for a huge plan that very few people knew about. In the process of getting there, he visited all those islands along the way. Most had their battles already passed, but he picked a rock from each one and mailed it home.
He made it all the way, for his last couple months as a soldier, he spent some time in Japan, and it was from here his last rock was mailed home.
When he returned home, he married his childhood sweetheart, and they bought a house in Albrightsville on the GI bill. They built a life together, and our Marine buried each rock, flat face up and built a walkway that wound its way through the yard. Here he could stroll with his memories and relived the times when he fought his way across the world.
From time to time a man would knock on the door. It was not hard to know he was a soldier. Military men have kind of a bearing to them. They would stroll down the path and find a rock that was close to where they served. When they stood upon that rock. For that moment they shed their years, their troubles, and their toils, and were once that young many ready to give the final measure.
In 2015, his young bride passed from cancer, and in 2019, at 97 years old the mind and spirit that composed the soul of our young marine shed his earthly bounds, and was laid to rest, with all due honors.
He left the little house to his daughter and son in law, who wanted to have something done with the walkway through the yard. They wanted something symbolic and called us to do the work. We were happy to take over the project. Rest well Marine, we have it from here. Semper fi!