Uncle Leland—In the Thick of Things

Uncle Leland saying, "Don't take my picture!" He is greasy from working on his Chevy or John Deere. My Dad was a Ford man and the two have kept up the competitive kidding throughout the years. 

Photo by

  
Margaret Walls  

Written by 
LeRoy Walls 
CEO 

I grew up hearing the stories of Uncle Leland’s nightmares and soldier ways after he returned home from World War II. Grandpa Douglas told of how he might yell, “Get that man!” in the middle of the night and how Leland had once attacked him when Grandpa was slipping past him to allow Leland to get more sleep. It took a moment for Leland to realize he was assaulting his own father and that the war was over (except in his nightmares).

We all knew enough about Uncle Leland’s involvement to know that he had been in the thick of things. Leland felt the war was too horrible to remember, so he never talked about it and 55 years later has no interest in seeing the recent World War II movie, “Saving Private Ryan.” We did learn that during his three years as a rifleman he went for 33 months without so much as a 3-day pass. He had his rifle stock shot off and was wounded in combat three times. He was decorated with three purple hearts, five bronze stars, a silver star and other awards from his participation in campaigns in Okinawa and the Philippines. Leland progressed to the rank of sergeant and led a platoon of 40 men during most of his time in combat. We also know that his hardest duty in hand-to-hand combat was to take a life in order to save his own. As a strong, humble soldier and man, he was never proud of this.

Soon after returning home, Leland married his neighborhood sweetheart that he had corresponded with during the war. Leland and Doris then bought a rough 120 acre Ozark farm with money he had saved while in the Army. They built a home, raised their three kids and developed an award-winning dairy farm that they forged by hard work from their rocky and stubborn Ozark farm. Once when Uncle Leland was in the thick of things in a battle—tired with his clothes literally torn off from action in a hostile terrain—a supply sergeant making deliveries in that area voluntarily swapped clothes with Uncle Leland. In telling me this, Uncle Leland’s great sense of humor came out as he said, “the clothes were generously offered, but there was no offer to take my place.”

In life we each can choose whether to: 1) avoid the thick of things, 2) support those in the thick of things or 3) be in the thick of things—like Uncle Leland. My hat is off to those who do the latter two, to the supply sergeant and especially to my Uncle Leland Douglas. 

7/19/2000 11:25:50 AM