1) I had the occasion to interview Brad Hammerschmidt yesterday at the World War II Memorial. The hearse carrying the casket of late Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) would pause at the memorial and Dole’s wife, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) would lay a wreath.
2) Hammerschmidt was wearing a purple Kansas State sweatshirt. He told me his grandfather Ben Hammerschmidt wen to high school with Dole in Russell, KS. Ben Hammerschmdit served in the Pacific theater in WWII at the Battle of Guadalcanal.
3) Guadalcanal is memorialized at the WWII Memorial. Brad Hammerschmidt says he got to see Dole campaign with his VP candidate Jack Kemp in KS in 1996. Fellow Kansan, President Dwight Eisenhower was one of Dole’s heroes.
4) Dole fought for years to get the WWII Memorial built. It was a challenge to raise the money. Hammerschmidt came to the memorial to pay his respects to Dole.
5) Here’s what Hammerschmidt said: “(Dole) would have been the second Kansan to be president. But it just goes to show you sometimes you experience defeat in life. You’ve just got to make the most out of it. And he sure did. And I mean, this monument is a great example of that.”
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
