Tax Daddy is my World War II Hero...

by Paula Neal Mooney

I watched on CBS Sunday Morning News this video report about the new World War II Memorial in DC, and the man who started HonorAir.com to fly vets -- 3 million of whom are still alive -- to the memorial to honor and thank them for their service in the war.

So of course I'm already crying, like the World War II vet they interviewed who choked up all these years later when he said he saw that Nazi swastika flag go down after he was released from his POW camp.

But the reason I just crinkled my face up is because the man in this picture to the left, labeled with "Somewhere in the Philippines" on the back is my very own World War II hero -- Ambrose Landis Dobbins, Jr.

I wish I could take my daddy to that World War II memorial -- I wish we could talk more about what he saw and did. I saved spartan emails he's sent about hearing bombs in the distance.

About the spas in Hakone, Japan.

So many amazing memories he must have, but like many men and World War II vets, he's stoic and tight-lipped and private about many things...


Tax Daddy was a photographer!

Here's another picture I have of him, stretching his skinny frame to check out a fresh roll of film.

That one is labeled "my darkroom."

I didn't even know "Tax Daddy" was really into photography. And how could he have guessed that all these decades later his daughter -- who was nowhere near born yet when he was a 20-something-year-old so far away from home -- would scan them into something and upload them on something called his "blog."

At least this newfangled technology -- which as an 86-year-old my dad is totally up on, more than me sometimes -- let's me take him to the World War II memorial virtually.

And I can tell my World War II hero all about this PBS Ken Burns movie called The War airing this Sunday, September 23, 2007, thru this forum.

And finally, after all these years, I can tell him thank you for everything you've done for me.

Daddy -- as your favorite comedian Bob Hope would sing, "Thanks for the memories..." both those spoken, and those unsaid...