It was great to see my family in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan last weekend. It was a short trip. I joked that I was “relatively” close to Michigan while taking a summer course at the University of Vermont. I decided to fly to Michigan for the weekend. Above is the ceiling tile that my brother Andy arranged to get painted. My Dad belongs to the American Legion Post in Stambaugh, Michigan. The American Legion is an organization that supports veterans who served in the US Military.

My Dad was a member of the 9,000 troop strong Ninth Infantry Division. He was in the army of occupation in Germany in 1956-57. He was stationed at a base outside of Stuttgart. He was part of the forces that they were defending West Germany from the Soviet Red Army stationed just across the border in East Germany. The Soviets has many more troops and weapons and so he joked that in case of an invasion, their instructions were to get in trucks and head to the Rhine!

My Dad enjoyed his time in Germany. By that time, Germany was on the road to recovery with the Marshall Plan. Next time I’m in Caspian I’ll post some photos of him in his army uniform from that time.

I would like to thank my brother Andy and the American Legion for honoring his service to our country.