my grandfather passed away 24 years ago today. i was only 9 years old at the time, but i can still remember that day vividly. he lived with us since before i was born, so my sisters and i were lucky to have a closer relationship with our grandfather than most kids. i figured today would be the perfect day to tell a story about my dad and his father.
on veterans day last year, my father made the trek to wellsville, new york [where he grew up], and donated my grandfather's military medals. the story was well told in the speech introducing my dad, which i'll share with you now ....
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charlie sanford grew up in the scio area during the 30s and early 40s. in 1945, he was old enough to volunteer for the united states army and signed up in the officer training program. the army thought he was bright enough to learn japanese and be sent to the pacific theatre as an interpreter, but, charlie told the army he couldn't understand latin in high school, so he didn't think japanese would be a good choice either.
so, in the military way the army gave him a lesser grade of T-5 clerk/typist and he finished the rest of his military career in occupied germany as a mud dog. but.... this presentation today isn't about charles sanford, its about his father, horace w. sanford.
horace sanford had one of those military careers that books could be written about or documentaries are made of.
the *exact* details, of course, are mostly lost to history, but we do know that at the age of 17, horace enlisted in the U.S. army in 1916 and became a medical corp man and as charlie says of his father, "when my dad enlisted, i'm not sure of his qualifications as a physician, he must have been standing in the "volunteer" line where the medical corp men were chosen".
one of horace's first adventures was to drive his mule team drawn hospital around the hills of texas and mexico chasing the mexican bandit poncho villa. for this, he was awarded, however, never received, the mexican punitive expedition medal.
immediately after that, in 1917, horace was assigned to medical duties in europe. in france, horace was involved in trench warfare and eventually was the victim of a mustard and chlorine gassing incident, which led to his returning to the states.
again, horace was awarded, but, never received, a very prestigious combat medal, the purple heart.
after a healing period from the dreaded mustard gas, horace worked at the alexandria base hospital in norfolk, virginia. eventually, he moved to the scio area where he married and went to work at the worthington plant, here in wellsville. when charlie came home in 1947, charlied moved mom and dad to the erie, pa area.
horace passed away in 1983, and like so many veterans, past and present, never got to see the prestigious awards he had earned through valor and patriotism. the short history that i have told you of the veteran, horace w. sanford, does have a positive ending.
in 1988, after years of diligent work of writing letters and making phone calls, then state representative of pennsylvania, thomas ridge, wrote to son charlie and stated that all of the military medals that had been awarded to horace w. sanford would soon arrive in the mail, which would include the mexican punitive campaign medal and the coveted purple heart.
i now present to you charles sanford, a WWII veteran himself, who will donate on behalf of a veteran of days and wars ago, the military medals that were awarded posthumously to his father, so that posterity may retain a small, yet significant symbol of america's military past.
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my dad was so happy the day those medals arrived. other than his father's and daughter's funeral, its one of the few times i've seen my father cry. i'm proud of you for seeing this thru daddy. and i miss you grandpa.
