In the summer of 1944, Jack McCulloch was the oldest of eight kids, a 19-year old farm boy from Laclede County. A year later, he was part of the U.S. Army, fighting his way across the Philippines and mainland Japan as part of the First Calvary Division’s Twelfth Regiment, Combat Infantry, Company B.
Unlike most his age, Jack kept a journal on little notebooks he carried with him, telling the story of his experiences serving in the Army during World War II.
Jack’s son, Brian McCulloch of Lebanon, is keeping his late father’s memory alive through a wooden Army chest filled with those journals, as well as other wartime mementos, including Japanese flags, a U.S. flag and a set of ivory chopsticks.
One of the comments often made about The Greatest Generation as Tom Brokaw dubbed them in a best seller years ago, is that they so rarely spoke of their war experiences, both the battles but also the amazing cultural revelations they discovered along the way.
However, Brian McCulloch got to hear those stories during a trip to Washington D.C. with his father. In April 2011, just eight months before he passed away, Jack was able to participate in an Honor Flight to Washington D.C. for World War II veterans and Brian went along as an escort.
For more on this story see Saturday's LCR.
