At Flag Day ceremony, Iowa veteran shares how war brought her, husband together

CRESCENT, Iowa (WOWT) - A community of retired veterans attended a heartfelt Flag Day ceremony Wednesday at the Old Lincoln Highway Veterans Monument Park.

It was the second year Primrose Retirement Community hosted an event like this in Pottawattamie County, bringing its veteran residents out to see them raising new flags at a memorial.

“It’s personal for them,” executive director Tiffany Eggett said. “They all have their stories. They take great pride in their service for this country, and they want to be a part of these events.”

Among the vets Primrose takes care of are those who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

One can never know what stories they may have.

For example, 101-year-old Kathleen Todd said while she was a Navy nurse during World War II, she was treating a sailor who had a hole in his head from shrapnel.

“He was unconscious for two weeks and kind of half blind and half vision coming in and out because his injuries in the back of his head, which is where your vision center is,” Todd said.

She nursed him back to health, and their relationship went from nurse and patient to husband and wife for 47 years.

It may sound like something out of Hollywood.

“This was life,” Todd said. “It wasn’t a script.”

She said she keeps active at her age, and that going to an event like the one on Wednesday is meaningful.

“It’s just nice to be out here and recognizing it, I think,” she said. “I say sometimes we kind of forget about these things and need a day for like, ‘Oh, yeah.’”

That’s why Primrose staff does it.

“There are not many World War II veterans left,” Eggett said. “So for her, she is a proud, proud veteran. All of our veterans are. To watch this is very meaningful for them.”

At the ceremony Wednesday, organizers put up new United States, Iowa, and POW flags.

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