Yesterday was Memorial Day.
Coincidentally my daughter called and reminded me she wanted a picture of my father, Curtis A. Layman, in his World War II uniform for a military tribute at her church. Dad was a Marine and in the second wave that came ashore at Iwo Jima. He served from 1944 until 1946.

It took a while to find a picture of Dad. I finally located one of him taken September 5, 1944.

As I looked at the picture with a “critical eye,” I had to say to myself that he was darned good looking. In fact he had almost movie star good looks. Of course he was young — in his very early 20’s.

His hat was at sort of a jaunty angle (probably not as it should have been), but he was always a bit of a non-conformist.

He was a very proficient artist. The only example I have of his artistic talent is a picture he drew of me as a seven-month-old baby. It was beautifully done! When in the service, Dad sketched pictures of fellow soldiers so they could send them home to their loved ones. A year or so ago, I found his “diary” which he wrote during his time in the military. He talked about going ashore and the losses of his friends.

After the war, Dad became a design engineer at Dow Chemical Company. He helped design the equipment that was used for the production of Saran Wrap. Among his papers, there’s a patent which Dow bought from him for some of his designs for the saran process. (The patent was purchased for $1 – which was the way it was always done.)

Dad died when he was only 65. He had enjoyed a couple of years of retirement in Sun City Center, FL, the city where we now have our condo. He loved “the good life.”

So on Memorial Day. I did what was right. I thought about my father and others who have fought to defend our country. I felt grateful.