God Bless The USA

As I have my new twins in the stroller and we leave the house, I am not sure where we are going to walk today. We have a State Park in our community so I decided to take these children down through the park.

Back in 1959 when we moved to Jacksonport the museum was a storage bin for hay. Before that it was court room and county offices, Jacksonport was our county seat. After we moved here it became a nursing home for a short while, then they started using it for hay storage. Lady Elizabeth Luker bought it and started trying to push the State to make it into a State Park and she achieved her goals long before she passed away. In so many ways, it is such a good thing that Mrs. Lady Luker did. Because there is so much history in this little town of Jacksonport, AR that would have been lost had she not been so persistent.

Much of the Civil War was fought here. As my grandchildren and I went down the sidewalk in the park I stopped and read every single sign to them. But when we reached the big solder right by the levee, I sat down beside them and read every name of every man, that had served in our community, and our county and who had died for what they truly believed in.

Some of the flags that were carried were made in a community called Old Glaise, it is a small community of maybe 50 0r 60 people. It makes Jacksonport, look like a city. My favorite joke is we 288 and that included all the dogs and cats. Women actually sewed flags with needles and their with sore fingers and all so our men would have flags to carry into battle.

If you ever watch MASH, Jacksonport is mentioned with a scene with Colonel Potter when he mentioned Point Ferry on the black river at Jacksonport, AR. Jacksonport was a very important part of the Civil War. I guess that is one reason that my Country, My Flag, and The Men and women who serve mean so much to me. As the children and I sat there, my heart hurt because of some of the families of these men never knew that they died until the war was over. I honor my flag and country so high. I did a lot of research in my younger days about Jacksonport and every name of every man, was stuck in my brain for a long time.

As I studied and learned how sitting on the edge of the white and black rivers ran together was a good place for a port, was so good for the armies. There have been arrow heads and cannon balls found on this hill here I now live. I really don't think that my grand children got much out the history that I read them, or that they understood how important the river was during the war. How important that they are living in a country that we still call FREE.

As I look back on my family history and a my husbands family, my children and grandchildren have so much to be proud of. My mother-in-laws brother, Author Reynolds died in Korea. My father-in-law was in the navy and got injured. My brother-in-law was in Viet-nam and also got injured. My husband served 4 years in the Navy as a Demolition specialist. I have nephews and nephew-in-laws that carry on the family tradition of serving Our Great Country.

Now as we started walking back toward the house, the babies were starting to get fussy, but they had had their history lesson for the day. What I failed to tell them was that their mama and Uncle Kenny was born on the Hill of Waterloo, where the battle of Waterloo was fought . No wonder I am such a soft hear-ted American, my whole life has been around the history of this great country.

As I think about people I know personally that is serving our country I think about a little boy that was raised out here in Jacksonport. Ricky Gansz was always a small stature, he was our newspaper deliver, a very kind and gentle child. He was not one that you would have ever thought would spend his life defending this great country.

I remember when he left going to the Gulf War. It was awful for his family and for us although our pride ran deep. Our towns people worked together to send boxes over there for the men and women. But what was the greatest experience for the adults and children alike was when Ricky came home. The parents made or bought yellow ribbons. His parents let us know when he was coming in and on what highway. So we took our children and our yellow ribbons and met him in Newport with a police escort. It was awesome. I am sure at that point Ricky thought that was the end of it.

Later, Ricky's parents brought him to Jacksonport Baptist Church where the children and teenagers had a reception planned. Before you could go to the reception you were to meet in the Auditorium for a Tribute to Ricky Gansz. The children got on the stage and sang "Friends". Then they asked Ricky to stand before the church and Honored him by giving him an American Flag. Then we went to the reception. All of this was very emotional for everyone. Thank God every time Ricky has been deployed he has came back home safe. See the little town of Jacksonport contributed to the civil and every war before or after with other young men and women like Ricky.
GOD BLESS AMERICA