Dad's Army Buddy

Dad hadn't talked about the war or anyone who shared it with him. At any rate, not to me. So it was kinda surprising when Sid and Roz suddenly appeared in our lives.

I was standing with my friend C outside of a food tent at our local county fair. A man I'd never seen came up to me and asked if I knew a L---- D-----. He was asking me if I knew my Father. Out of a croud of people at the fair, he asked me. I suppose he had asked others before he got to me,but I was still amazed when he asked me. I told him I did know L.D., but before I could say L.D. was my father, he got all excited and asked if I could tell him how to find L. Dad and brother J were bringing stock from the fair we had just finished. I started to explain that he could find L at the cattle barn later. But, just then I could see our stock truck coming through the front gate. So I pointed to the truck and told this man he would find L in that truck. Without another word to me he took off running. C and I watched him jump up on the running board of the moving truck and scare J right up off of the seat. The truck was in a line of moveing vehicles and Dad couldn't stop. So the last I saw of them, this man was still riding on the running board and the truck went off behind the cattle barn. I don't know where Roz and their young son were, but they must have seen it all too. Later, when C and I went to the barn, they were all there. Sid saw me and got all excited and told Dad I was the one who pointed Dad out. It was quite a scene when they learned I was L. D's daughter. There were quite a few scenes with this couple. They were always excited and everything was enjoyed to the fullest. They had recently moved to Ohio and Sid started looking for Dad as soon as they settled in Toledo. They were the first Jewish couple I ever met, and I enjoyed being with them a lot. Sid and Dad talked and laughed about things they experienced in training and jumping out of planes and some of the men they knew. But, still the war stories were absent. They came to our farm several times after that. Everything they did turned into a circus. Even their card games were loud and roudy. Mom and Dad took a few weedends away from us to stay with them in Toledo. They always came home with laughter, and stories of the fun they had. Especially meeting the rest of Sid and Roz's families. I guess they were all like that.

Several times during my high school years, my parents put me on a Grey Hound Bus and I was able to spend weekends with Sid and Roz and Craig in Toledo at their home. These Jewish weekends are good memories. I would have to catch the bus immediately after school on Friday, so I would be in Toledo before sunset. At sunset they lit candles in a religious ceremony and their Holy Day started. On the weekends I spent with them, they did not take me to Tabernacle. But, they practiced their religion at home and answered my questions. Beside the obvious, the biggest difference I could see was the attention to what could be eaten and how it was fixed. I was amused to find Roz playing records to learn the Yiddish language. Their young son, Craig, was learning with her. They had advanced to a level that made it hard for me to follow the tapes. But, I loved the sound and rhythm of their lessons and wasn't bored at all to just listen. Wish I'd learned more.

Another part of my visit started after the next sunset when the Holy day ended. Then they would take Craig and I to the Toledo Zoo or the museum. I enjoyed both, but my favorite, by far, were the shopping trips Roz and I took. Shopping with Roz was a new experience for me. Mom and I never were much for shopping. We bought what we needed and went home. Maybe that comes from not having a lot of money to spend. Roz didn't spend a lot either, but we didn't go home soon. Roz would take me to a big department store, but then she would find a discount table and it would be surrounded by women fighting over things. One time I wanted to take shirts home to Dad and my brothers. Roz took off her coat and handed me her coat and pocket book and asked me what size and what color and told me to stay back. This little gutsy lady elbowed her way into the frackus and shirts were flying. Eventually she came back out with just what I asked for. Her hair was disheveled and one sleeve was pushed up past her elbow and one side of her blouse had come untucked. She would be laughing and I would fall under her spell all over again. She just pushed up the other sleeve and "went in" again two more times and I had shirts for each brother and Dad. I can't picture my Mother and I fighting for anything. Or having so much fun doing it. Shopping with Roz was a lot of fun. But, I knew I was as out of place in her city as she was on our farm.

Sid was a design engineer for Willis Jeep. They drove from Toledo to our farm one time in a pink jeep with a pink and white canvas top that had fringe all around it. Sid had designed the jeep for a resort in, I believe, Hawaii. It amused Dad to think of the pink jeep going down the interstate highway and then on our country roads. But, Sid was proud of his design and wanted to show it off. So Dad and Sid took the jeep out to show it to everyone Dad could think of. Then they came back and "field tested" it across our pastures.

Dad and Sid were such an odd mixture to be friends. Jew and Methodist; city and farm; engineer and farmer. But they kept in touch till my father died. Sid got my father interestd in the reunions of their army outfit and both couples started going to the reunions regularly. Each year in a different state. Even after Mom was too sick, Dad kept in touch and started going again after Mom died. I think Sid was good for my Father and I know they were good for me.

Gee, once again I'm seeing that S was right. I was spoiled. I don't believe either one of my brothers ever got on a Grey Hound bus to spend a weekend with Dad's Army Buddy. Were they just not interested, or did Dad keep them busy on the farm? Hhhmmm, I don't really want to know.