My grandfather, Hank Battjer, with his father Henry and grandfather Diedrich. I'm guessing this was taken after Hank had enlisted as a pilot but before he left for the Pacific.
My dad's parents, Hank and Connie Battjer, with my cousins Chris and Steve. The one on the bottom is me blowing out birthday candles with my cousin Chris watching (and looking like a bug).
And then while down in the basement looking for something, I discovered a trunk that I had never seen. It turned out to be filled with my dad's father's (who passed away when I was ten) photo albums from when he was a pilot in the South Pacific in WWII. Turns out he was a avid photographer that put all of his photos into meticulously arranged, chronological albums and even wrote smart-ass captions for each pic in white grease-pencil! They're amazingly similar to THIS WEBSITE. (Talk about being genetically predisposed....how strange is it that I would have a hobby so similar to my grandfather's never having known he did it?). Anyway, I spent the rest of this day scanning pages from the album and there's going to be a forthcoming "I Keep A Diary: OLDSCHOOL" edition coming up soon compliments of Hank J. Battjer.
Before we get on with the fishin', I should prolly give you a little background. You see, we come from a fishing family. That handsome devil up there is my dad's father, Hank Battjer. (Holding up what looks like a fresh-water muskellunge)
