Happy Birthday

How William George La Fleur Got His Name


When Dad was born there were already four William's round the house, both his grandfathers, his father, and a cousin. There were so many in fact, they went by Bill plus whatever your middle name is (like Bill-J for my grandfather).

When Nani was expecting Dad she already had two daughters, and although this might be her only son, she said that she was going to name him Jeff, not William.

The night Dad was born, my grandfather was on duty, and actually fighting a fire that night.

When he got back to the fire house and found out he had a son he raced to the hospital without evening changing or cleaning up.

When Nani saw her hero, still sooty from the fight, she couldn't possibly bring herself to name his son Jeff. When the nurse asked the baby's name, my Papa said, "Marie?"

With a tear of pride in her eye she said, "His name is William."

Don't ask me where the George came from.
 
Sorry this took so long to post.  I actually wrote it while at Owasippe, but I had a bit of trouble getting it off the electronic storage I had it on.  As it turns out it's a pretty good story to start with and a good story for his birthday.
 
By the way, that was 6 Aug 42.  On Dad's third birthday we dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  If anyone knows the fire his father was in please leave a comment. 

First Post, First Father's Day

Dad left us just in March, and I'm not sure I'm really ready to start this blog, but this is my first fatherless Father's Day and I think I have to start this.

I could not name it "The General" because to me Dad wasn't the General, or even A General.  Yes, I'm not taking anything from his accomplishments, but Dad never commanded anyone as a General, and he had NO stories as a General.

This site is a place to archive Dad's stories, a place to let his grandchildren and great grandchildren to learn his stories, and for the rest of us to remember the stories.  To us, he was Honey, Dad, The Big Cheese, Papa, Captain and many others.  His stories were from those times, those roles.

In defference to my mother, Dad's military accomplishments, and the fact that probably the most devoted fan base is his Scouting family, the web address is http://generalcheese.blogspot.com/.

Happy Father's Day Dad.