Here is Alex in his reindeer finery. I know you all wanted to see all the dogs so dressed, but that was impossible. Every time we put them on Bella, she promptly removed them. Every time we put them on Hailey, Bella promptly removed them. sigh. That girl! The dogs and cats all had a great Christmas and had fun opening their presents. Rick made a wonderful video of them which you can watch here. Just so you know, Bella is the one that’s “naughty” while I dig some paper out of her mouth, and also the dog that runs off into the other room with presents two times. Alex is the main package opener, while Hailey is the hot dog eater. I hope you like it!

We enjoyed my sister and brother-in-law’s visit very much. Time flew by too quickly, and given that nearly one entire day was taken up with getting our hot water heater replaced (the electrician had to come too), it made it seem even shorter. We took them to the train on Saturday afternoon and they spent their remaining two days of vacation in NYC.

We didn’t have snow on Christmas day and it rained the next day, melting all the previous snow and leaving us with a green scene again. This morning we are having a few fitful flakes (try saying that ten times!) but it’s not going to amount to anything. Still, it’s pretty to watch and after all, it is my birthday today. Happy Birthday to me! This week is supposed to be bone-chillingly cold with some snow forecast for New Year’s Day. I’m not going to hold my breath ...

I hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

P.S. Don’t forget to watch the link to the video of the kids opening their presents!

To my grandfather (on left), who fought in WWII and loved every single minute.  Known to most as George, or as my grandmother called him “Bum” (not sure why!), he was better known to me as Poppy. My grandmother captured his journey in this lovely hand-painted album. I’m not sure what the significance of this album coming from “Green Cove Springs, Fla.” is exactly. I thought maybe he was stationed there or trained there, but inside the cover there is an inscription that says otherwise. So, that part will remain a mystery. (Although in a footnote below I did find some information connected to WWII there.) Maybe he shipped out from there?

Above is the inscription page and in case you can’t read it here it what it says in my grandmother’s handwriting:

“S/Sgt. George Sherow 32947541 CO. H. 328th Inf. A.P.O. 26
Entered U. S. Army Dec. 3, 1943.
Trained at Camp Wolters, Texas & Camp Shelby, Miss.
Home on furlough May 1944.
Last 12 hr. pass Aug. 14, 1944
Left for overseas Aug. 1944
With the 26th Yankee Division through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria & Czeck.
Wounded in action Dec. 1944 awarded Purple Heart.
Also holds combat infantryman badge and E. T. O (?) ribbons with four battle stars. (Note: I think E. T. stand for European Theater Ribbon.)
Awarded Silver Star for gallantry in action.
Home after 15 months overseas.
Discharged November 13th, 1945

At the top of the page is written “arrived in States Nov 8 -45. Home Nov 45 on Howard Victory.”

This silly photo is marked “Taken in Texas 1943” on the back, so it must have been when he was first in boot camp. I think the horse is real, but who knows? Eh, caballero!

Here he is with my grandmother. The date on the back is ” May 1944,” so I am thinking this was his furlough.

The album is full of photos of war time events and people. The names, meaningless to me, are written under the photos of long ago war time buddies. Countries are documented as they made their way across Europe.

I remember my grandfather telling stories about the war and having met General Patton himself and what a great man and leader he was. I thought it was interesting how he wrote on these photos where Patton was in these two shots. He’s in there somewhere, we just have to trust Poppy.

Also Patton related were several post cards of the famous Lipizzaner stallions marked “Horse show in Vienna,” and this one marked “Patton’s Horse.”

Now, I doubt this is really Patton’s own horse but there is some reason the photo is labelled that way, both on the back and underneath. Patton did indeed attend a show of the Lipizzaner stallions while in Vienna (and it would seem the two photos above were taken at that very same event!) and was paramount in their rescue during the war.  Here is a link to that story.

A few other pages in the album are worth another look. This one with a ticket from the mess hall stating that the first meal was at 7:30 a.m. and the second was at 4:30 p.m. That seems pretty early to eat in the evening for a hungry soldier! Also on this page, an Army exchange ration card.

One with photos of Austria and a row of stamps with Hitler’s image. Note the inscription under the stamps!

Another page has clippings from the newspaper of his promotions and medals.

Accompanying the album is a small box marked “medals.” I could swear there used to be a paper inside this box that told about his Purple Heart but it’s not there now.

Also in the box is this silver dollar. The note attached to it says “this dollar went with Poppy overseas and came back with him as you can see by all he wrote on it.” It was his good luck dollar, and everywhere he went he wrote his destination.

And last but not least, the box also contained this newsletter which must have been printed on the ship home—The Howard Victory.

And here they are on the ship home. (Poppy is in the middle of the three men.)

I hope you’ve enjoyed your peek into this wonderful album my grandparents left behind. I know I’ve learned a few things I overlooked before.

On this day, thank you Poppy for your commitment to your country. I’m proud of you!

Thanks to all who serve: past, present and future.