An interview by a 4th grader

For school, Lastborn was asked to interview a family member over Thanksgiving break, and then write a piece from what he learned about the person. Lastborn chose to interview his Grandfather - and the result is rather funny.

Grandpa Ross


Have you ever had to live on a farm and had to clean chicken poop, or had to be drafted into the Korean War? Well my Grandpa Ross did. Grandpa’s favorite holiday is Christmas, because everyone is so happy in the holidays and everybody looks forward to church meetings. Grandpa Ross had a powerful father and a mother who kept the house neat and tidy, Grandpa had many difficult chores like caring for chickens and much more. He went to school at Deerfield Grammar School in Deerfield, Illinois. Grandpa had scarlet fever in the fourth grade so he had a lot of work to do to catch up. A role model of Grandpa’s is a farmer next door who was elderly. The farmer is Grandpa’s role model because he did a lot of things while working as a police chief. His goal was to reach college and he did, then a small amount of time after he graduated he was drafted into the Korean War. Grandpa Ross says there are mountains in the north part of the country, as you get closer to China the mountains get higher. A big river in Korea is the Haun River that runs through the capital of Korea. The people in Korea were very poor so they sold dogs to the GIs (soldiers) then when the dogs get bigger the people would steal and eat them, then try to sell more puppies to the same GIs. Grandpa was at the MLR (main line of resistance) for 5 months. After WWII (World War 2) Korea was split in 2 parts, North and South. This split was done at the 38th Parallel or 38 degrees latitude. The only time Grandpa was south of the 38th parallel was after the shooting stopped and Grandpa’s outfit, the 5th Regimental Combat Team, was moved to Pusan, a town way south. Grandpa spent a total of 15 months in Korea and was happy to leave. Grandpa’s favorite time of day is the morning because he gets a lot of work done. He is retired but he can do a lot of things he couldn’t do while working. His most treasured memories are his experiences in Korea. I bet you’ll drive all the way to Schenectady to meet Grandpa Ross.

It's always interesting what these kids will bring from a conversation. Lastborn was asked to follow up his interview with more questions about Korea. So one of the questions he asked Grandpa was if he saw any wild animals in Korea. That's when Grandpa wrote about the dogs. Of all the things he wrote for the follow up questions, I knew that Lastborn would take this as the most important gem. Parent conferences happen in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to hear the teacher's reaction. And if I notice a group of parents laughing while gathered around a piece of writing attached to the wall in the hallway outside her door, I will know that the essays were posted and that they are reading Lastborns.