ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Gayle Niehaus leans toward the camera. Then, she pretends to reel in a fish. She’s laughing, recounting a story where she’s crying.
In the story, she's crying because she actually caught something. Niehaus is standing in her farmhouse next to a picture of the first fish she ever caught. Soon, she’ll be sitting because her knees hurt.
She's in her 70s now. And she never liked fishing, but her dad loved it. It’s why he often said he wished he lived here.
In her bedroom, Niehaus clicks on the TV.
“I’m the keeper of pictures, video," Niehaus said. "The historian."
After some static, her father appears on the television.
“Well, good morning,” said Hubert Hogg. “I thought I would try to be a little more video-friendly today.”
Niehaus turns up the volume. And her dad says he watched what he recorded the day before.
“It was a little sad,” Hogg said. “Let’s go on a more happy note this morning.”
WATCH: Daughter discovers secret World War II diaries in the video below
In another room, Niehaus shows me pictures from when Hogg served in the Army. Pictures from before that, when he worked in a coal mine. Pictures from his childhood.
Pictures from before he died in 2008.
Hogg never told his daughter any of the stories behind these pictures. He never told anyone in his family.
“I never ever heard him speak about the war,” Niehaus said. “Ever.”
All she knew is that her dad sometimes wrote poetry. Before he died, Niehaus asked her dad if he wanted her to publish some of his poems.
“He smiled,” Niehaus said. “And then he was gone within two hours.”
When Niehaus went through her father’s home, she found much more than poetry.
“Let me show you some of the diaries,” Niehaus said.
She shows me a tub full of binders. Binders with a table of contents because they're so full. Now, they're organized by sticky notes. That was Niehaus's way of organizing everything.
Because she had more than 3,000 pages of her father's writing to go through — parts of his life he never talked about.
He wrote about the war. He wrote about how it affected him the rest of his life. And he wrote about how if someone ever found these diaries, he hoped they could help someone else.
Niehaus turned these words into a book, and it was published in May. I asked her what that meant.
“Don’t make me cry,” Niehaus said. “He’s up there somewhere smiling as you’re filming this.”
In the farmhouse, she reads a passage from the book. She cries. Her sister cries. And then she puts it down, taking her glasses off and wiping her eyes.
“It’s called the story he left behind,” Niehaus said. “Because we didn’t know this story existed.”
Want to read the book?
The book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking on this link.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can find more Homefront stories here.
