On this Memorial Day it's our chance to stop, reflect and say thank you to all of the men and women currently serving and our veterans that have served in all branched of the military. They have fought to keep our country safe! On this day we remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice while defending our country. And one of those veterans happens to be my dad, whom I am so very proud of. I recently had a chance to talk to my dad and get to know more about his time in the Navy. My dad signed up in the spring in 1958 right out of high school and joined the Navy. He attended boot camp in the summer of 1958 at the Naval Air Station in Olathe, Kansas.

My dad decided to go into photography school while stationed in Pensacola, Florida, And after training my dad was put into active duty and was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia in the winter of 1960. He served two years at that location, where he did photography work for the Navy and also threw fast pitch softball while enlisted.

Here is a little history of the base at Naval Air Station in Olathe, Kansas where my dad trained, it was commissioned in January of 1942.

The Olathe Kansas Air Station began training Naval Pilots in mid 1942. Two famous people trained there…one being John Glenn who was in the very first class to be trained at this base and another notable Navy Pilot who trained there was TV Game Show Host, Bob Barker. The base also housed the first Olympic sized swimming pool west of the Mississippi. The base was decommissioned in the mid 1970’s.

My dad ended our talk about his military career by saying 'I felt honored to have served my country on Active Duty and also the Naval Reserves for a total of 6 years.' he continued 'I enjoyed my active duty in the beautiful state of Virginia, where I found a southern Belle and we married in 1961 and moved to Kansas.' At the end of our talk my dad added 'We have two wonderful sons and we recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.'

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