My dad dropped out of high school to enlist in the Army and fight in the WWII effort in the South Pacific. He was hit by a sniper bullet and then had his body pierced with shrapnel when a mortar shell hit near him as a medic worked on his wounds. He was sent back the U. S. to recuperate from his wounds in a hospital in Cleveland. He couldn't walk for a year. When he came home and walked up the cracked concrete drive of his home in Price Hill, he found his dad underneath a car working on a repair. He called out his name, "Dad!". He said that his father was a stoic fellow, sometimes prone to anger, but was overjoyed at seeing his bandaged son return home from the war.

That's my dad on the far left with the bandaged hand. Two of his other brothers served in the WWII effort, Louis Kluesener and Daniel Kluesener. Bob Kluesener served stateside as a fireman for the city of Cincinnati and Joe Kluesener served in the Korean War.

Because of my dad and uncles, along with all other U.S. veterans, we are a free nation. Thank you!