Fresh from the Farm: Time Marches On

** Editor's Note: All quotations are included as originally written by McKinney in his correspondence. ** 

I am writing this in honor of Veterans Day.

Even on the farm, time doesn't actually stand still.

On December 8, 1943 a young farmer, 18 years old, named Loyd McKinney, enlisted into the United States Marine Corps. For the next two years his life as he knew it, on the small farm five miles northeast of Hope, Indiana, would be turned upside down. He would see and do things that he never dreamed, growing up on that little farm.

He would become a U.S. Marine Corp corporal, a cannoneer, driving tanks into battle.

There would be letters written to home.

"I suppose dad has most of the wheat cut by now. Be about time to start thinking about thrashing. " (7-5-1945)

"I sure have got plenty of birthday cards, most all of the neighbors around home, and a couple from people I don't even know" (7-5-1945)

"I'm the only farmer in our platoon, and the sergeant knows it. He said he could tell every boy that came here from the farm. He said they work harder and have more common horse sense. " (1-28-1944)

"Not so long ago I was driving a tractor, but it was a cat. It is a bit different than a tractor. I didn't have no trouble though. I felt pretty good after driving it. It made me feel more like I was at home" (2-23-1945)

"The other day they issued gloves, all the fifty- and sixty-point men didn't get any. I like to know what they think we are. We are not supposed to get cold I guess" (11-21-1945)

These are some of the things that he wrote while in the Pacific. He was wounded in action. He received the purple heart as well as several other medals.

He was driving a tank and hit a landmine. He was the only survivor. I remember my grandmother telling me that the Marines sent men to the house to tell them that he was MIA [missing in action]. He was unconscious for several days and nobody knew who he was. Just a farm kid from Hope, Indiana, serving his country, and nobody knew who he was.

"Dear Mom & Dad & Marjorie, This is Tuesday morning at 730 if the clock is right. I have nothing to do this morning. I had the guard last night and boy did it get cold. Four hours is a long time in the middle of the night when you are walking by yourself" (3-21-1944)

"The new year is off with a bang. I will tell you what we had for new years dinner, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, jello, fruit cake, nuts and dried figs, sounds like a pretty good meal doesn't it. I would much rather be home and have fried chicken. I suppose you had a nice Christmas" (1-1-1945)

A young man, a teenager, away from everything he knew for three Christmases, two Thanksgivings, two birthdays. Doesn't sound like a lot. Until you march a mile in a soldier's boots.

I have many of the letters he wrote while in the Marines. I suspect my grandmother kept every one of them.

I am sure that he didn't plan on being a Marine. Or fighting in a world war. His life was on the farm. He loved the land and all that it had to offer. I can remember my mother getting us out of bed in the late hours of the night to take him food while he was in the field. He was a cattleman, raising and showing registered Polled Herefords under Roadside Hereford farm. He was a jack of all trades. I swear there wasn't a thing that he couldn't build, fix, or rig up just to get home. He would give you the shirt off his back.

For more than two years he made the sacrifice to be a Marine and to fight for the freedoms that we often take for granted.

I write this in honor of all if those that have made that sacrifice for our freedoms. So many made the ultimate sacrifice.

I hope you will take the time to thank a veteran, or active-duty military. I don't think that we realize just how much they give so that we can have.

To all those that have served, THANK YOU!