THE ZINN BROTHERS SERVE THIER COUNTRY
WYLIE & ROSA ZINN HOLD THE FIVE STAR BANNER
This is a special story that was written by Mari (Nance)Zinn who is the wife of Domby Zinn the youngest son of Wylie & Rosa Zinn. I consider this story one of the best that will be in my book. I have had the picture of the "Five Star Banner/Flag" for a long time and really appreciate Aunt Mari writing the story because it goes perfect with my favorite picture of the Zinn's.
The Story Of The Banner
There was a time when windows told a story. Perhaps it was another life time ago, few people seen to remember it. But, once just by driving down the street of Anytown,USA, there was an intimate connection to the people inside. To be sure it was only a tentative connection but one that touched the heart strings and involuntarily produced feeling of gratitude. Here was a small white banner with one star, there may have been one with two and only so seldom - one with five stars. The color of the star told the level of sacrefice. If one held a gold star, it seemed that the world should stop to take notice for here was a family who had given a child, almost always a son, so that you and I could drive on that street or any street - free. Yes the cost of freedom is extremely high. Even when there was not a gold star among the others, we all knew that this maother and father lived each day in hope and anticipation and dread.
The window in the front room of the small frame bungalow at 102 SW Boundary, Hobart, Oklahoma, held one of those rare banners with five stars. With the coming of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,no one's world would ever be the same. From the radio came the unthinkable news that the United States had been attacked by Japan. All that Sunday radios wre turned to the news Monday brought a day of continued disbelief - school classes stayed in home rooms all day to hear the somber news - the United States was at war. The unforgettable voice of President Franklin D. Rossevelt told us this was a day that would live in infamy and then, like a father to a nation, he told us the only thinkg we had to fear was fear itself. But there was much to fear - the unknown most of all. With Germany at war in Europe and now Japan, the future was not at all certain. This very uncertainty prompted action from the young men across this continent. Even before a draft could be initated, volunteers lined up to be sworn in and after the briefest of training, sent to corners of the world they never knew existed. And so, one by one, Rose and Wylie Zinn saw their boys leave - Albert, Van,Clyde, Doug and finally Domby - and five stars marked their absence for all the world to see. How can anyone even imagine the feelings of that mother and dad as they waited not days or months but years for a letter to come fromone of the boys: from Clyde (now become Johnny, the military didn't care what youwere called at home, your first name was your name) in England or Domby at sea on an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific or the others whereever their bases were. Long hot days melded into long cold days and the years passes and the unthinkable came to an end. Not one gold star replaced another on the white banner in the window. By the spring of 1946 all Zinn boys had returned "home" safe and sound, but changed forever. Changed by the reality of life - and death. Changed by everthing that war brings about.
Somewhere in some box, perhaps the banner still exist. If it does, it needs to be framed and kept in a prominent place for all the world to see. Let it bear witness in some window again that freedom is not free. Let it testify that this country and this family produced men of valor who willingly gave years of their lives and their country, their families and them selves that each of us could enjoy a way of life undreamed of the most of the world and most of time.
The next time you drive by 102 SW Boundary, look carefully at the south living room window - can you see it? It's just a small white banner with five stare.
We should all thank each and every young man and woman that served our country during this time of war and the families that waited at home.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
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