Photos of Grandpa

Recently my cousin Philip and his wife Keri drove from Fort Bragg in North Carolina to visit us here in Oklahoma. Phil is a little over six months away from completing his Army Special Forces training. He's been in the Army for seven years and has served our country on four deployments to Iraq. During one of those deployments, he was shot in the chest, but his body armor saved his life. This summer, Phil will become a Green Beret, and we are all so proud of him!

Phil was only three years old when our grandfather passed away. I was eight, which is still very young, but I do have very clear, vivid memories of Grandpa. Phil doesn't remember him at all. You see, our grandfather spent most of his life serving our country in the army as well. He started off as a young, skinny, enlisted man. Served bravely in both World War II and the Korean War. He received both a bronze star and a purple heart. And he retired as a full colonel. He had a very successful career serving our country. And Phil is following in his footsteps.

Because Phil can't really remember our Grandpa, he decided to do some extensive research on our Grandpa's military career in order to "get to know him". He ended up finding a lot of things, including several photos which we had never seen before.

My Grandpa and Grandma before he left to serve in World War II

This is my favorite photo. Part of the writing below the picture reads "Korea 1952".

My mother was four years old at the time. Her older sister was five and her brother was born that same year. What was my Grandpa thinking about?

This was also taken in Korea.


Colonel Wesley F. Gant

As we were reading through some of the official service records that Phil had researched, we stumbled upon the following paragraph written about the efforts that led to my Grandpa receiving the Bronze Star. I think this paragraph alone makes me the most proud.

"For heroic achievement in connection with military operations against the enemy near ***,*** from 13 December to 15 December 1944, Lieutenant GANT, with complete disregard for his own safety, led his platoon heroically against several fierce enemy attacks. During one of these attacks, Lieutenant GANT crawled from a position of safety to a supplementary position in order to bring more effective rifle fire on the enemy and while doing so killed two Japanese. Lieutenant GANT, by his courage, devotion to duty, soldierly conduct, and fine leadership, won the approbation of his entire platoon."