Stories of My Father from Cousin Jimbo

I am so pleased when I hear from a relative who found this blog and sends me information to share!

I recently received these stories about my father from my first cousin Jimbo Ball, son of my father's younger brother, Uncle Jimmy. Thank you, Jimbo!!

"We were talking about the war and Iwo Jima when I was a little boy. He casually mentioned that he was standing by the group of marines in the famous flag raising photograph. If I remember correctly, he said he was just outside and below the lower left corner of the picture's frame, doing something else. I was awed that he was only a few steps away from being in the history books! He shrugged and said 'I was just doing my job.'"

"Donna (Jimbo's wife) and I went to Jacksonville to spend Christmas with Aunt Irene before she sold the house. The last Christmas. Uncle Billy came over for Christmas dinner and we were sitting round the table talking when the subject of hair came up. I was getting pretty thin on top about that time of my life and said he lost his hair during the war from rancid food. The food was not fit to eat and every body knew it but it was all they had. You either ate it, or went hungry. A lot of the men chose to go hungry but your daddy was hungry enough he decided to eat it any way. He got sick, his hair fell out and never grew back."