upworthy

navy

Fatherhood

Navy veteran, 83, visits home he helped build 'brick by brick' with his dad 70 years later

His dad built it in 1955 to live the American Dream.

Patriotic Kenny/Youtube

Kenny, 83, a Navy veteran, visits the home he helped his dad build 70 years ago.

Driving past the home you grew up in is an emotional experience. Looking at it from a distance, memories start to flood in, and for Navy veteran Kenny, 83, a recent drive-by of the home he helped his dad build in the 1950s brought back a treasure trove of heartfelt stories.

Kenny (@patriotickenny), with the help and support of his close friends, drove past the home that he helped build brick-by-brick with his father while he was in high school. He shared memories of his dad and mom, and how the house was a labor of love and the American Dream.

"This house build was so special," they captioned the post. In it, Kenny is sitting in the backseat of a car as he is driven past the home, and his reaction is captured in the emotional video.

Kenny's friend Amanda is driving, and he excitedly tells her, "Keep going! See that big white house down there with the porch? Right there! There it is!" After Amanda asks if his dad really built it, he responds, "Yes he did! It's still identical to this day the way he built it." After saying how nice it looks, Kenny becomes emotional and adds, "I miss that place."

He goes on to share more details of how the house was built with his help, explaining that they laid all the brick and how they salvaged the bricks from Fort Snelling. "We went over there with his pickup and hauled them a load at a time," he says. Kenny adds that construction began in 1955, about the same time he entered the service in high school. "I helped him a lot."

Kenny also details how his mom put her touches on the home. "Around the whole front my mother had it solid with peonies. Solid. She planted it all the time, peonies and geraniums on the side," he explains as his voice cracks and holds back tears.

Kenny also helped build another home with his dad, which was captured in another video shared on his page. Kenny explains that this home was actually ordered from a catalogue then built together in the late 1970s.

"Yeah, that's it!" he says as he claps his and with excitement. "Oh it's junk now but he's got a flag. And the deck is still on!" he says about the home on 10 acres of land. "Me and my dad started all the framework there...my dad he always helped me. We helped each other." Kenny also shares that he fenced the property for their horses with boards, which still stand.

In 2021, Kenny met his friends and neighbors Jenny and Amanda, along with Jenny's dad Jerry. Ever since, they have called themselves "The Crew" and began creating videos together showing Kenny's life and experiences as a veteran. Kenny began the Patriotic Kenny Foundation to help raise funds for mobility scooters for disabled veterans after he was blessed by his own from generous donors.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Since then, his videos have continued to bring joy to his viewers. Many were moved by his genuine emotion after visiting the home built with his father:

"So sweet. The admiration for his parents. He's like a little kid talking about them, getting emotional 🥹," one wrote.

"He’s so precious. I wish I could give him a big hug. I love that he was able to go back and see so much and his contribution to it," said another.

"I love hearing his stories. It is a very nice house. I know he’s proud to have helped his dad and learned so much from him," gushed someone else.

From Your Site Articles
veteran
More

Read the surprising, hilarious, blunt, yet sweet letters kids write to the military.

True
Hallmark

“Imagine that you worked in an office building, and you couldn’t leave it for weeks at a time.”

Ensign Christine Conlon says, "That’s what it feels like to be deployed on a Navy ship."

The USS Ross in port at Souda Bay, Greece. Photo by Spc. 1st Class Theron J. Godbold/Released/U.S. Navy.

Conlon works aboard the USS Ross, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer (think three pegs in Battleship) stationed off the south coast of Spain. Every season, the USS Ross and its inhabitants are deployed on a four-month patrol in and around the Mediterranean area.

During those deployments, life at sea becomes pretty boring, pretty fast.

So a letter like this can often make someone's day:

All letters courtesy of Ensign Nick Tsusaki/U.S. Navy.

The letter reads:

Dear Service Member,
Thank you for risking your life for my community. I'm so thankful for what you're doing. Earlier we wrote about how we were brave. I said I let my sister get KFC instead of me getting Taco Bell. That's nothing compared to what you do. I can't say thank you enough. My great uncle was in the military. It would be great if you would write back. I appreciate your courage and sacrifice. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
Your biggest fan,
Destiny



Sailors may be at sea for several weeks at time, so once they've read, watched, and played everything they brought with them on deployment, entertainment can be pretty scarce.

"We really value the small things," Conlon says. “When you get a package and it’s got a new nail polish or new movies, and you can say ‘All right, I’ll set aside time to do this on Wednesday,’ it gives you something to look forward to.”

The enthusiasm for correspondence is universal. “It’s a delight to get mail,” says Ensign Nick Tsusaki, who works alongside Conlon on the Ross. “Everybody looks forward to getting mail.”

In addition to correspondence from family and friends, military personnel receive thousands of letters and packages from strangers — including from kids.

Letters like this one:

Dear Soldier,
Thak you for prtekteg us. I am in 1st grad but I know a lot.
from Juliette.

Back home in the States, community organizations frequently run letter-writing campaigns and package donations for service members overseas. Every time there's a mail delivery, personally addressed packages are accompanied by hundreds of letters and cards from citizens around the country.

The anonymous mail often offers a brand of levity that’s entirely its own — particularly when kids are the letter writers.

“It makes your day getting these little kids’ cards. I usually scan through the package for bad handwriting ‘cause that’s how you know they’re gonna be funny. Kids really do say the darndest things,” Tsusaki laughs.

Dear Soldier,
Hello! I hope you are well. Thank you for fighting for us. My favorite thing is soldier. I love soldier. Are you okay? Well I feel happy for you.
Love,
Kinley


The messages often reveal that the kids have little clue what goes on overseas, but they understand that the sailors and soldiers are far from home and could use a little love.

Dear Soldier,
Thank you for risking your lives for other people. I'm sorry if your friends died. I appreciate everything you do for the country.
Your new friend, Michael.

“Even when it’s crazy stuff, like ‘I hope you don’t die’ or ‘Thank you for giving your blood for me,’ stuff like that, it’s still nice to get something that someone took some time to do,” says Lt. j.g. Sean Mansfield.

“And it’s a good conversation starter for five hours of night watch when you’re standing alone with somebody in the dark,” adds Tsusaki.

Dear Soldier,
Thank you for fighting for our country. You are our hero. I know it is scary. I wish I can help you but I am a kid.

Whether the packages contain something funny or something touching, it’s clear that handwritten notes have an amazing ability to make an impact.

Out at sea, sailors aren't totally disconnected — they're still able to email family and chat online with friends. But it's not quite the same as a card or letter handwritten in the mail.

"It’s nice to get a text saying, 'hey man, you’re the best,'" says Mansfield, "But mail just takes a significantly higher level of care and concern. You know that someone thought about what you wanted, put it in a box, wrote the address, drove it to the post office. You know that person really cares."

Conlon sums it up in a sentence: "It's just nice to know someone was thinking about you."

Want to send a card or letter of your own? You can write to a soldier online via the USO or visit A Million Thanks to learn more about sending physical letters and packages. Your contribution is always appreciated.

More

A member of the U.S. military has just joined Colin Kaepernick's protest.

On Aug. 26, 2016, San Fransisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick declined to stand for the national anthem. Whether he wanted to or not, he started a movement.  

Kaepernick (right) and fellow protestor Eric Reid. Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

In the very next game, other players joined Kaepernick's protest. Some from the opposing team. By week three, there was a long list of NFL players from franchises across the country who had demonstrated or voiced their support.

Then college teams, the WNBA, and high school teams joined in, and before long, the movement had spread far and wide enough to be lampooned on "South Park."

Members of the Miami Dolphins kneeling in protest in September. Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images.

Recently, another individual decided to join the cause: U.S. Navy Intelligence Specialist 2nd Class Janaye Ervin.

Ervin explained her actions in a Facebook post that is now going viral.

"On Sept. 19, 2016, while in uniform, I made the conscious decision to not stand for the Star Spangled Banner because I feel like a hypocrite, singing about "land of the free" when, I know that only applies to some Americans," Ervin wrote.

My fellow Americans, I have been proudly serving in the US Navy Reserve Force since November 2008. I have pledged to...

Posted by Janaye Ervin on Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Ervin is the second member of the U.S. military to publicly participate in the national anthem protest. And the act has already become extremely controversial.  

The first was Lt. Commander Kate Meadows, also a Navy sailor, who posted a video on Facebook of her sitting on a bench through the morning colors ceremony.

Considering the fact that people were up in arms over a football player protesting the national anthem, members of the military joining in are bound to push some buttons.

Photo by James G. Pinsky/U.S. Navy via Getty Images.

In fact, Kate Meadows has reportedly faced disciplinary action and the Navy published guidelines warning their members not to join in. Ervin says she's lost security clearance and has been threatened with jail time.

A quick look at a comments section online also reveals the expected level of outrage over a member of the military refusing to stand for the anthem of the country they serve.

On the surface, it's understandable. Not paying tribute to your country's flag or anthem does seem unpatriotic.

And we do kind of expect our military to be dripping with the most unwavering patriotism. After all, they're the ones who go out and fight every day for our freedom to protest in the first place.

But there's something much bigger going on here.  

One of the Navy's mottos is "Non sibi sed patriae," meaning "not for self, but country."

Refusing to stand for the national anthem isn't about Colin Kaepernick, and it's not about Kate Meadows or Janaye Ervin or anyone else. It's about the country. It's about giving a voice to the millions who feel that theirs has been silenced or ignored.

Protestors facing off with police in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images.

It's about recognizing a systemic injustice in a country that claims to be the land of the free and acknowledging that we can do a better job at living up to that promise.

In a way, it's the most brave and patriotic thing you can do.

More

The Navy just named a ship after this gay rights icon. Here's why it matters.

Harvey Milk is known for one historic first. Now it's time for one more.

Many people know about Harvey Milk's legacy as a gay rights icon. Less talked about is his history in the Navy.

From 1951 to 1955, Milk served as a diving officer aboard the U.S.S. Kittiwake, a submarine rescue ship. Milk achieved the rank of lieutenant junior grade prior to receiving an honorable discharge.

Following his career in the Navy, Milk devoted the next two decades to activism and public service, becoming the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States. In 1978, he took office as a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors. Sadly, less than a year later, he was shot and killed.

Milk's personal possessions at the grand opening of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender history museum in 2011 in San Francisco. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

After his assassination in 1978, Milk received some of the country's highest honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In 2009, President Obama posthumously awarded Milk the highest civilian honor, alongside the likes of Sen. Ted Kennedy, Stephen Hawking, Billie Jean King, Sandra Day O'Connor, Sidney Poitier, and Desmond Tutu. The president invited Milk's nephew, Stewart, to accept on his uncle's behalf.

"His name was Harvey Milk, and he was here to recruit us — all of us — to join a movement and change a nation," said President Obama. "For much of his early life, he had silenced himself. In the prime of his life, he was silenced by the act of another. But in the brief time in which he spoke — and ran and led — his voice stirred the aspirations of millions of people. He would become, after several attempts, one of the first openly gay Americans elected to public office. And his message of hope — hope unashamed, hope unafraid — could not ever be silenced. It was Harvey who said it best: 'You gotta give 'em hope.'"

President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk's nephew, Stuart, in 2009. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

In 2014, Milk was immortalized in the form of a postage stamp.

Photo by Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.

And in 2013, supporters pushed to rename one of the terminals of San Francisco's airport after Milk.

Unfortunately, their plan never came to fruition, but the wide support for the plan illustrates the power of Milk's legacy.

Supporters of Harvey Milk during a rally at San Francisco City Hall in 2013. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

In July 2016, the Navy — where Milk began his historic career — announced that it will be naming a ship after him.

On July 14, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that ships would be named after Milk, women's rights activists Sojourner Truth and Lucy Stone, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. The ships are named after civil rights icons as part of the "John Lewis class" of ships — itself named after civil rights activist and Georgia congressman John Lewis.

During his time in the Navy, Milk had to hide who he was. At the time, gay service members were banned from the military. It wasn't until 2011 that lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals would be allowed to serve openly. And it wasn't until June 2016 that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the ban on transgender service members would be lifted.

Milk's name among the engraved names of AIDS victims during a World AIDS Day commemoration event at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

Now that all people are allowed to serve their country regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, it's only fitting that one of the most prominent LGBTQ activists made another historic first: becoming the first gay man to have a naval ship named after him.

Trending Stories