This week my grandpa turned 93. Wow. We're still glad to have him around. My grandma led him to the Lord about a month ago. She's been praying for him since they met in 1941. They married in 1945 after only getting to know one another through letters. They only had one date before grandpa was shipped overseas, and it was only 2 months from the time they reunited in 1945 until they married.
Here are some more fun facts about Bob.
He was born July 6, 1913 in Hamilton, Iowa. I've been to hamilton, it's not much more than a spot in the middle of the road.
He ran away in his teens several times, and in the 1930's moved to Southern California to wrestle professionally. He wrestled under the name Thomas Timothy O'toole. He was a pretty tough guy. After that, he refereed wrestling matches until WWII and again after he returned from overseas. I was watching a special about wrestling once on TV, and the guys that inspired Hulk Hogan and some of the older wrestlers, they were all friends of Bob. Guys like "Killer Kowalski" and "Gorgeous George"
In WWII, he was in the army air-corp, the 117th bomb group. His position was navigator on a B-26 bomber named the "Coughin' Coffin", which is the plane that inspired the famous song "Coming in on a wing and a prayer" because it had landed once with only one wheel down. Since he was the navigator, he has lots of pictures of bombing sites taken from the airplane. He also gave me pictures when he toured the Holy Land in 1944. He also has pictures of death camps that his unit went through. I think Eisenhower wanted everyone to see what Hitler did.
After the war he joined the Polk County Iowa Sherriff's Department where he was a deputy from 1955 to 1979. He was always assigned as head of security when an important person came to Des Moines. He has a big frame on the wall of his house with pictures and letters from all the famous people he guarded. Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, and other governors, senators, etc. My favorite is of Him and then Senator John Kennedy (1958)
Then in 1979, he started to play golf everyday. And he did until about 10 years ago.
He was born July 6, 1913 in Hamilton, Iowa. I've been to hamilton, it's not much more than a spot in the middle of the road.
He ran away in his teens several times, and in the 1930's moved to Southern California to wrestle professionally. He wrestled under the name Thomas Timothy O'toole. He was a pretty tough guy. After that, he refereed wrestling matches until WWII and again after he returned from overseas. I was watching a special about wrestling once on TV, and the guys that inspired Hulk Hogan and some of the older wrestlers, they were all friends of Bob. Guys like "Killer Kowalski" and "Gorgeous George"
In WWII, he was in the army air-corp, the 117th bomb group. His position was navigator on a B-26 bomber named the "Coughin' Coffin", which is the plane that inspired the famous song "Coming in on a wing and a prayer" because it had landed once with only one wheel down. Since he was the navigator, he has lots of pictures of bombing sites taken from the airplane. He also gave me pictures when he toured the Holy Land in 1944. He also has pictures of death camps that his unit went through. I think Eisenhower wanted everyone to see what Hitler did.
After the war he joined the Polk County Iowa Sherriff's Department where he was a deputy from 1955 to 1979. He was always assigned as head of security when an important person came to Des Moines. He has a big frame on the wall of his house with pictures and letters from all the famous people he guarded. Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, and other governors, senators, etc. My favorite is of Him and then Senator John Kennedy (1958)
Then in 1979, he started to play golf everyday. And he did until about 10 years ago.
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