John Hodge of Minot, ME served two tours of duty during the Revolutionary War, once as a private in George Rogers Co. at Fort Falmouth in 1775 (now Portland) as part of the Massachusetts militia (Province of Maine) and second as a Corporal in Nathaniel Merrill's Co. in 1779 in the campaign to the Penobscot (Bagaduce Expedition) to remove the British from Fort George (now Castine ME). He joined his neighbors in the fight for their farms and lands that future generations should prosper on it and together build an independent free nation where hard work and ingenuity would equally reward any and all free thinkers who should come after him with shared dreams of building a better life in a free society. Thus, upon the foundations of his struggles, I will carry this torch, that I shall not let this light darken upon these lands but add to its glow that future generations may also share the dream of my fore fathers.
"go out and find the place where I am lying and kneel and say an Ave there for me. And I will hear though soft your tread above me and then my grave will warm and sweeter be"