Introduction by James Plank

 

No one could be more proud of grandparents than my brothers and I. All sorts of fun were ours on those long summer days that we spent on their Tioga County, Pennsylvania, farm. Across the field was the grave of a Civil War soldier who once had owned these one hundred acres. Up in the corner was the fish pond. Up through the woods were “the gully” and the waterfalls and all sorts of trails for little boys to wander. But better than the beautiful countryside and the farmhouse and barn was the wonderful warmth inside of a man and a lady who loved each other and loved life. As I remember growing up, I thought their life must have always been perfect. Only as we grew older did we learn that the thistles came with the roses. And only as time went on did we understand why the red, white and blue flies day and night all year through. Before Grandpa Plank settled on this farm, he had traveled around the world with thousands of other soldier boys to secure freedom for every generation that would follow. And before we grandsons would be born, their son Jim would also travel to distant shores and give his life in Vietnam. Many stories were too painful to recall. But on one of these later days, my grandfather told some of his adventures. My brother Jon put it all together, and we printed the story in hopes that it will always be a fitting tribute to the man who told it.