Dear Readers,

The article printed below was written by my late father (1918-2017) and appeared in The Indianapolis Star, MY INDIANA section, on Monday, February 26, 2007, page A9.

Dad’s recollection seems especially appropriate today, as we enjoy yet another (the 110th) running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.

Sound of music and home

It was in Luxembourg City when thoughts of Indiana came back with a rush, and homesickness hit me hard. It was 1944, World War II, and I had just been re-assigned to a unit located deep in Germany. From northeastern France, I set out alone, dependent on the Transportation Corps to get there.

Initially, I was assigned temporary quarters with other military personnel in Luxembourg. One morning, hoping to ease my yearning for family, I sat down at a piano in the lobby and ran through my usual medley of tunes, including, “Back Home Again in Indiana,” by Ballard MacDonald and James Hanley.

Suddenly, a young soldier came rushing in and said, “I heard the music, ‘Back Home Again in Indiana!’ Are you from Indiana? I am, too!” At that brief moment, coincidentally finding a fellow Hoosier, though many miles away in Luxembourg, I was home.

Every May, when I hear Jim Nabors sing the familiar refrain at the Indianapolis 500, I am immediately transported back to that day long ago when that famous Indiana song came to mean home to me.

– Kenneth R. Woolling, M.D., Indianapolis