Family is so important to us here at Hil-Man, both in the traditional sense of the word, and in the broader sense of our Hil-Man family, and to an even greater extent, our American family.
This year for Memorial Day, we wanted to do something special to honor family members who gave their lives in the service, so we asked our team to submit photos and stories.
Our office manager, Julie Blakely, shared the following photo and newspaper clippings about her great uncle, Lt. Maurice Mulroy whose plane went down over the Bermuda Triangle on January 13, 1944.
Twenty years later, Richard Hogeland, uncle to our mechanical machine designer, David Thomas, was stationed aboard a submarine that was lost in the same area. Here is David’s personal account of his uncle:
“I was 3 years old when the USS Scorpion went down in the Bermuda Triangle May 22, 1963 (the cause is still classified), so I don’t have any direct memories of him except for all the pictures and 8mm home videos of him at our family reunions. We laid him to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. We lived in Pennsylvania at the time. His son, Rich (my cousin), was my best friend all the way thru high school. My aunt Ruthann (Rich’s wife) and my cousin Patty were like my second family. My uncle Rich was a true hero and a real loss for my Aunt Ruthann, Rich JR, and Patty.”
This Memorial Day, we want to celebrate not only these brave members of our extended Hil-Man family but all the Americans who have served and died in the line of duty.
We wish everyone a safe and uplifting Memorial Day weekend with their families.
American Flag Photo by Kevin Morris on Unsplash.