To the editor:

On June 6, 1944, my father, Sgt. Urban Bornhorst, was a soldier in the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division. That morning, together with his fire direction center unit, he crossed the English Channel and landed on Utah Beach. After more than 300 straight days of combat, he returned to Shelby County to be united with my wonderful mother and to see his son, Tom, who was born while dad was in Europe. My father and mother, like a lot of the greatest generation, didn’t talk about their war experiences until the later years of their lives. Only when I was grown and had a family did I learn of all the sacrifices and battlefield experiences they had endured.

Every day, when I look at MSgt Urban Bornhorst’s two Bronze Stars and his Purple Heart, I wish that I could put a flower on his grave behind Sacred Heart Church in McCartyville. Unfortunately, I am unable to do so. I thought I would ask the good people in Shelby County to go by Sacred Heart Cemetery in McCartyville on the anniversary of D-Day and place a flower on my father’s and mother’s grave and say abrief prayer for all the Shelby County heroes who have served this great country.

Now when people ask where I am from, I tell them my father and mother were born and grew up in Shelby County, Ohio, one of the greatest places in the USA.

David A. Bornhorst

Colonel (retired), U.S. Army

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina