pitterpat

Frank is quiet as he loads your purchases into the bags at the checkout stand in our Foothill Ranch Wal Mart. But if you’ll take the time to look at him or thank him his smile lights up the room.

Ask him about all the pins that he proudly wears on his Wal Mart badge and you may need to slow your pace down a bit because Frank is a man that is proud to have served his country and doesn’t mind talking about it. A few weeks back I overheard Frank talking to a customer ahead of me as he loaded her purchases. He was telling her that there had been an article in the local paper written about him. It had talked about survivors of D-Day. When it came to my turn at the checkout counter I asked Frank which newspaper the article was in. I was so taken by Frank and his enthusiasm that I took a portrait photo of him and one of his pins, and decided I would write my own story about this gentle hero. As soon as I got home I ransacked through the trash for the newspaper article Frank had talked about, yet I never came across it.

I thought about Frank and this article for several days. I scoured the internet trying to find it. Finally I decided to go back to the source. I also needed to take our local hero the portrait photo he had requested. Frank was very happy to receive the pictures. He told me the article that had been written about him was posted on the wall by the employee check in clock and I could go see it there. Off I went. Once I arrived at the destination though I found no photo but a large remembrance wall of the brave men who are serving or have served our country. I thought for a moment that Frank was probably up on that wall but I was still focused on the article. So I head back to Frank, until I saw a couple of Wal Mart bigwigs who also saw me. A few conversations later and I was given permission to go get Frank and have him show me the article which was now in the back room and to show me which of the photos was him on the remembrance wall at our local Foothill Ranch Wal Mart. Once again I walked the long path from the garden section where I had originally talked to Frank, across the whole width of our large store, this time trying to keep in stride with Frank, an 88 year old war veteran who says he walks 2 miles every day in Tustin. He’s also had knee replacement surgery! I comment on the fact that he can walk faster than I and that I am very impressed with him. He replies with “people everywhere are impressed with me!”. No doubt. People at every station in Wal Mart stop and say “Hi Frank”. “You wearing your pins Frank?”

I am taken a secret back way, through the bowels of Wal Mart, where only special VIP people are allowed to go, or so says Frank. I stay close to him, keep my camera turned off and try not to look at my surroundings. Stealth in the bowels of Wal Mart with Frank. Way cool. We finally arrive where the article is posted. Wal Mart has also posted a small portion of the article by the clock, they’re pretty proud of their employee it seems! Frank proudly shows both of them to me. The newspaper story seems like such a small article about such an big hero. Hmmmm….

You can read the article for yourself here. I was told it was published in the OC Saver which is inside the Saddleback Valley Newspaper. Since we don’t get the OC Saver delivered in our Saddleback Valley newspaper I now know why I never saw the article.

Around the corner and through a set of large double wide doors that brings us back to the wall of remembrance. Before I could finish saying “Frank I’m not sure which one is your photo, but I’d like to try and pick it out, he points to it! That’s our proud hero. Frank.

All American, Tech Sergeant, Sharp Shooter, Bronze Star, Department Of Homeland Security, American Paratrooper, D-Day Invasion Survivor. The metals and list goes on and on. What’s not to be proud of about Frank. Our quiet local hero. Thank you Frank. We applaud you and all our men and women who are enlisted to make our country a better place to live in.