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And we continue with our American stories.

Up next, a eulogy from Roland BitCon. On Saturday, May 15th,

2021, Roland's father, Russell Bitcon, went to be with his lord after 87 years of a life

well-lived. You're about to hear the eulogy Roland delivered for his father, honoring his father, at a church in Jacksonville, Florida.

Here's Roland.

I remember coming home from a football game where I'd scored a touchdown.

And my mom kept saying, you should have seen your father, you should see your father, who is jumping up and down and saying, that's my boy, that's my boy.

I found that a little eye because my dad was usually more reserved and he wasn't a proud or boastful man, and he let such things speak for themselves. But such is the nature of life, we're used to cheering on our children, but rarely do we get a chance to share on our parents. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to take a few moments here to tell you about my dad, and I just made'll just stand up and say a cheer for my dad my dad Russell Lee Bigcom was born on a farm to parents

were sharecroppers the rock island railroad line ran right through the farm this started my dad's

lifelong love of trains my dad would run along beside the train and hop on one of the cars and got rides into town.

And here this summer, they would chase cows out of the ponds so they'd go swimming.

So as you can see, a childhood of safe, clean, healthy living can lead to a long life of 87 years.

That's my dad, that's my dad.

He worked hard on the farm and would also work the hay fields of surrounding farms. He said it was very hard work, but it paid several times what the kids were making in town.

As my dad graduated high school, he said he was done with farming and wanted to get far away from the farm as he could, so he joined the U.S. Navy.

He took a train from Iowa to San

Diego for Navy boot camp. Dad got a top score of all the enlisted men on a test the Navy gave to new recruits, which gave him first choice of what he wanted to do. It was 1952, dawned the jet age. The airplane was the latest technology and the fastest machine on the planet, my dad wanted to learn how to work on them. Join the NavyC of the world's the advertising slogan, right?

Well, some on the planet. My dad wanted to learn how to work on them.

Join the ABC of the world's the advertising slogan, right? Well, some of the place in my dad were stationed, San Diego, California, Norman, Oklahoma, Corpus Christi, Texas, Kingsville, Texas, back to San Diego, Hawaii, Fallon, Nevada, Memphis, Tennessee, Puerto Rico, North Fork, Virginia, Jacksonville, Florida. He also did several deployments on aircraft carriers

to the North Atlantic off the coast of Finland to the Mediterranean Sea.

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