Why the American Flag Means So Much to My Family

On this episode of Our American Stories, the American flag carries deep meaning for millions of families, often shaped by service, sacrifice, and memory. For Our American Stories listener Joy Neal Kidney of Des Moines, Iowa, that meaning is deeply personal. Joy is the niece of the Wilson Brothers—young men from Iowa who served during World War II and whose lives and sacrifices left a lasting mark on their family. Their story, and what they stood for, helped shape how Joy and her family came to see the American flag not as a symbol, but as a reminder of real people, real courage, and real loss.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. There are some of our favorites.
This next story comes from a listener today, Joyneil Kidney,

(00:31):
a regular contributor and listener on Who in Des Moines,
tells her story of why the flag means so much
to her and her family. Here's Monty Montgomery with the story.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's easy for us to forget the meaning of things
constantly around us. If you drive through Washington, d c.
Over a summer, seeing the Pentagon Jefferson Memorial Capitol Building
in Washington, monument begins to just seem like a part
of everyday life. They're just there, and the splendor adorning
them simply vanishes in the midst of a busy rush

(01:11):
hour commute to Arlington, where our national heroes are buried.
Adorning their graves is another symbol of our great country
that we can often forget the importance of to so
many people, the American flag. Joyn Neil Kidney's family is
a group of some of those people who don't forget
its meaning, though. Here's Joy, author of the Ora's letters,

(01:33):
with more on what the flag of our nation means
to her and her family.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
The American flag was precious to my grandmother, who often
wore a small, sparkly, red, white and blue flag shaped pian.
In one of my favorite pictures ever, she's standing below
a flag in grinning. Back in eighteen ninety, when Leora

(02:06):
Goff was born in Duthrie County, Iowa, the new states
of Idaho and Wyoming had just been added to the Union,
making forty four stars in the flag. She was five
years old when Utah became a state, adding the forty
fifth star. That was the same year her father went

(02:27):
bankrupt in Nebraska's drought. Leora was nearly seventeen when Oklahoma
was admitted to the Union forty six stars. They lived
in rural Ottoman County then, and she rode a horse
to the county seat town to take piano lessons. She

(02:48):
helped her dad with his popcorn crop and her mother
with ten younger siblings. The forty eight star flag came
about when New Mexico and Arizona became states, right before
the Titanic sank in nineteen twelve. Leora was twenty one
then living in Wichita, Iowa, not yet married. It was

(03:20):
that familiar forty eight start flag for the next thirty
three years, through Leora's marriage to Claim Wilson, the Great War,
the births of their ten children, the loss of three
as infants, and through World War II when they lost
three sons. Leora regularly displayed the flag outside her little

(03:43):
house in Guthrie Center, where she lived out her last decades.
Her family had sacrificed so much for them emblem of
the nation. When Japan officially surrendered at the end of

(04:05):
World War II, two sons were missing in action, Dale
in New Guinea and Danny in Europe. Their youngest son
was killed in training. At the end of the war,
A folded American flag was presented to Claymen Leora by
Junior's Army Air Force friend and fellow pilot, Ralph Woods

(04:28):
at the funeral. The war was over, the Wilson's two
surviving sons had served in the Navy. Delwart and his
family moved home to be with his folks. Dale Wilson
has never been found. They eventually learned that Sun Danny's

(04:52):
grave had been located in Austria, and that he had
been killed in action the day he was listed as missing.
Months later, a carton of Danny Wilson's possessions from his
base in Italy arrived at the Wilson acreage south of Perry,
sent from the Army Effects Bureau of the Kansas City

(05:12):
Quartermaster Depot. Clave signed for the carton. I suppose they
opened it, But did they sort through their son's eighteen
pairs of socks, five cotton undershirts, three khaki trousers, and
other clothing. If they had, they would have found Danny's wristwatch,

(05:32):
souvenirs of his R and R to roam over Christmas
nineteen forty four, a fountain pen, and other items, including
a small new testament. The war was over, but life
just plodded on and on, with daily chores to keep
them busy. According to Leora's diary, she churned butter every week,

(05:55):
two cows, had calves, claive, helped a neighbor with field work.
At some point, maybe they thumbed through dan a small
new testament. They would have found the page with the
American flag on it. Under that flag is an arrow
drawn and ink, and these words in his usual older

(06:17):
handwriting with his signature, I give everything for the country
it stands for. If this brings tears to my eyes
these many decades later, how did my grandparents deal with it?
It's no wonder the American flag was so precious to
my grandmother.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
And a special thanks to joining the old Kidney for
sharing her story, her mother's story, her grandmother's story, the
family story, and in the end, the American story, because
that's what the American flag represents, all of our stories.
My own family had the same story. I have the
flag now that my mom got from her mom. My
mother's only brother was killed in World War Two. John
Lapadulau is a paratrooper landed behind the enemy lines and

(07:05):
was never heard from again. No effects, just a flag.
And a special thanks also to who for carrying our
show and for allowing these stories to happen again. If
you have a story about anything, send them our way.
We love hearing from listeners. Join Neil Kidney's story, her
family's story, the American flags story. Here on our American stories. Folks.

(07:30):
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(07:51):
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