Happy 95th Birthday, Grandpa

In Honor of My Grandpa, Jerome J. Einck

On His 95^th Birthday

June 6, 2014

As our country honors veterans

Each year on June the 6th,

I raise my flag to a special man

Who has my heart transfixed.

With many men in '44

He took the beach by storm.

Defending his country with all that he had

On the day that he was born.

He turned 25 on the beach that day.

He left his mark on the world.

As a very, young man with a long life ahead,

The war around him unfurled.

At night, so I hear, by candlelight,

He wrote letters to Grandma back home.

While holding her photograph close to his heart,

He signed them "with my love, Jerome."

After the war, with my Grandmother's hand,

He lived his life with ambition.

Farming and working and building a life

And watching it come to fruition.

With a gentle hand and a tender heart,

Along with discipline,

He raised four daughters (one was my mom).

His love was genuine.

The man that I know, is much more than that -

I know him as "Grandpa Einck".

He's a man who is humble (and likes to play "Tic")

And is very gentleman-like.

I find I relate to some of his ways

As I aim to fill his shoes -

With his quiet disposition

And his love for all things blue.

As time goes on his family, now

Spreads generations - four!

With grandkids – eight, great grandkids – twelve,

And someday maybe more.

My hope is that our family

Can fulfill his legacy -

To each be the type of person

That my Grandpa is to me!