Day 4 - 6/24

This morning we said good-bye to the Tipi and loaded up the van.  After being so hot the day before it was crazy how cold it was at 5:30 in the morning.  But since we had to make an early start it did help make everyone move faster than normal.  Our destination: Mt. Rushmore. Today, was basically a travel day. However, we did stop to see some sites. One of them was the Battle of the Little Big Horn. This was where Custer and his 7th Calvary were massacred by the Indians who were led by Sitting Bull.

Custer's Last Stand has personal connections with our family. Michael Caddell was my mom's great-great-grandfather. He was a sergeant at the time, and was friends with a soldier named Archie McIllargy. He and McIllargy fought together in the Civil War. They were both from Ireland. Michael Caddell was stationed to watch over supplies. McIllargy was under Reno, but he died with Custer on the hill because he was taking a message to Custer about the number of Indians. Before leaving for battle, McIllargy asked Caddell that if anything happened to him, he wanted Caddell to watch after his wife, Josephine and two children. After McIllargy died in battle Michael Caddell married Josephine and raised the two children as his own as well as having eight more children with Josephine. The anniversary of the battle is on June 25th.

Later, we arrived at Mt. Rushmore just in time to see their lighting ceremony. There, we met one of Dad's friends from Utah State and his family. The program the Park held was fun. They had a park ranger talk about the history of Mt. Rushmore and a video show highlights from each president's term. To close the program, they had everyone who currently serves or served in the past in the U.S. Military come on stage and introduce who they are and what branch of the U.S. Military they served in. The very last one was a elderly gentleman who landed at Normandy. He came to this country all alone at the age of 16 from Italy. Just four years later he was serving his adopted country fighting against an enemy located in his homeland. It was a very humbling experience and it really helps one appreciate all of the freedoms we have today because of the selfless sacrifices of so many.