{{{{{{{GfH}}}}}}}}}}
I loved my German Opa so much! He was the one who turned me on to The Kingston Trio, and every time I hear them I think of him.
Opas give the best hugs and their laps surpass any comfort a La-Z-Boy may offer.
I have never been to a memorial service of someone who has been cremated, so I cannot help you, but you are in my thoughts as I write this!
Much love and thanks for loving your Yankee Doodle Dandy!
Quasimodem
Another memory of Grandad:
A long time ago, when I was a teenager, he told me the story of landing and making camp on a beach somewhere in the Far East during WWII. Their CO ordered them not to leave the camp as the enemy had been spotted nearby. The grunts could see a beached Japanese sub about a football field away; a few of them decided to check it out, despite boobytrap warnings. When everyone else had fallen asleep, Granddad and a couple of friends snuck over to the sub and took a few souvenirs. Granddad gave the clock he found to my uncle; my mother has it now. I remember asking him if he was scared, sneaking onto the sub. In his gravelly voice he answered, “Hell, yes.”