A Veterans Story: Legend under the Gold Dome

RP Members great story for this fine day!

A legend treads the halls under the Georgia Dome. Distinguished with a wit bred of wisdom, unwavering patriot Rep. John Yates is the only remaining WWII veteran in the Georgia House. At 94 years of age, Yates is also the oldest state legislator in America, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.

John Phillip Yates was born 6 miles north of Griffin in Spalding County on Thanksgiving Day, 1921. “We were a farming family,” Yates recalled recently. “All seven of us kids were born in the front room, all five boys served in WWII, two became POWs, but we all made it home. Our father raised enough cotton to pay the $56 property tax on 140 acres but earned his living as a truck farmer. He sold turnips, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, watermelons, shoot …. we didn’t know we were poverty stricken until the government told us so. I remember the day my father came home from town and told our mom that he’d joined the 4-H Club …. Harding, Hoover, Hard times and Hell.”