My Father’s Syrian Permit Card

My wife and I are trying to clean up the basement, where things were consigned in the move if we didn’t otherwise know where they should go. Finding a few things, some treasures, some junk, some things I’m not sure I’ve ever seen.

Among the latter is this bit of paper detritus — my father’s Syrian ID card from 1955, noting that he was born in Pineville, Kentucky and working for the US Embassy in Damascus. The day after my folks got married in Augusta, Kansas, they flew to Syria, which was my father’s first post. Other posts followed: Iran, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Mali, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. My folks were brave. Dad would have been 95 on December 1st.