
Uncle Roy is 87 years old, but he still moves and acts like a 70 year old!
He is kind and intelligent and has lived in Utah all his life.
He and his wife are important people in their community but recently I learned something even new about him.
When he was young, he was in the Marine Corps. for a few years during WWII. Upon returning he was photographed on the Battleship Missouri with the famous Captain Nimitz. On September 2, Nimitz was aboard the battleship USS Missouri as part of the Allied delegation to receive the Japanese surrender. The second Allied leader to sign the Instrument of Surrender after MacArthur, Nimitz signed as the representative of the United States.
Nimitz signed for the United States when Japan formally surrendered on board the Missouri in Tokyo Bay. On 5 October 1945, which had been officially designated as "Nimitz Day" in Washington, D.C., Admiral Nimitz was personally presented a Gold Star for the third award of the Distinguished Service Medal by the President of the United States "for exceptionally meritorious service as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, from June 1944 to August 1945."
This Photo below is taken one year after the signing of surrender. Captain Nimitz is pictured right above the gold seal plaque which in on the floor of the ship below his podium. My Uncle Roy is the one on the left with an 'x' marked in the picture above his head (so you can find him) in this picture.
While my aunt Elaine (my dad's sister) worked in Washington DC she was able to get his picture autographed for my Uncle (her brother).
Pretty cool huh?