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I wrote this essay to be my annual contribution to Memorial Day and Veteranâ€™s Day as I remember being surrounded by so many extraordinary men. As a young boy though, I saw them as common men who behaved as though they had experienced an ordinary rite of passage. My most often contact with these men started about age nine when my dad began taking me out golfing on the weekends. There was a man who used the first golf cart I ever saw, because as a brigade commander of the 41th infantry in New Guinea he was debilitated by sickness. I remember one fairly good golfer who had kind of a weird back swing, because he was crippled while serving with the Big Red One in Sicily. I often ended up as a dishwasher at Michelbook Country Club. I noticed the chef always limped as he moved around the kitchen. When he saw my puzzled look, he said he got the limp from a wound received when he was with the Rangers at Pointe De Hoc. Those are just a few of the stories I remember among so many others I could tell and have forgotten.

Saluting my Dad, an Infantry Officer with the 81st Infantry Division "The Wildcats".

Made it back safely from the Pacific War.

I was Army Aviation/Vietnam and Field Artillery/Germany.

A Salute to all our Veterans!

I just lost my dad in March. He served as a tail gunner on B25’s and B17’s out of Corsica in WWII. He flew 72 missions on B17’s before being shot down over Italy. He barely escaped because the turret was jammed and he had only a backup chute. Fortunately for my Dad, He was rescued by the Canadians. They were truly the greatest generation of Americans. I served in the Navy during Vietnam on the U.S.S. Coral Sea supporting flight ops off the coast of Vietnam. We came home as lepers. There was no thank you for your service. There was no welcome home. They called us “Baby Killers” not heroes. We were blamed for this war even though it was not of our choosing or making. We were blamed because we served. Imagine if no one served. Who would be there to defend you from the worst among us. It’s ironic that people who have never given anything want to deny my free speech. Quite frankly, IMHO, most Americans no longer deserve being defended. They count for naught to those that gave and those that gave all. To those that do honor Veterans... Thank you.

My Dad, who served in the infantry in the Ardennes and Battle of the Bulge, and crossed the Rhine at Remagen on the first day, always spoke of the record-cold and deep snow of that winter. I’ve seen many similar accounts from his fellow soldiers over the years.

When he was in his mid 80’s, I traveled 200 miles to join him for a ceremony honoring WWII vets planned on a summer day by my home town. He proudly donned his Eisenhower jacket and we walked a long distance to the site. Before we reached our destination, people in front of us turned around and were walking back. The ceremony of honor had been cancelled, due to a light rain. Dad laughed, recounted the winter of ‘45, and sat in the rain at the venue, reminiscing with many other sturdy vets who chose to do the same. The vets were promised a rescheduled event, which never happened.

That said, I honor the Vietnam Vets, whose return home was treated shamefully. MIA flags still hang in my city, when men were knowingly left behind, and the issue covered up under the leadership of our current Sec. of State and senior Senator from Arizona.

As the “Greatest Generation” dwindles, it becomes the duty of their heirs to keep their memory green! However, I use the term “Greatest Generation” in quotes because while WW2 was INDEED the largest and costliest conflict that the USofA has ever fought in, that term diminishes the generations who came before, and that is NOT RIGHT! The Revolutionary War? The American Civil War? WW1? EACH generation has its challenges and if they were not as great as WW2, they were LUCKY by that alone!

For my family it was in 1943, on the Italian battlefield that my father, on this day, received the first and most serious of his 4 battlefield wounds from WW2. As he told the story, it was a rifle shot that went into the groin and took out much of his buttock, making him an ‘OFFICIAL’ half-assed Lieutenant! He came very close to death that day as he almost bled-out before they properly staunched the bleeding. It was only after 2+ months in the hospital that he checked himself out in order to rejoin his outfit, 45th Infantry Division (Thunderbirds) for the Anzio Invasion. A semi-funny aside here is that he was forever furious that the medical record that followed him for the rest of his life, described it as a buttock wound, which could be interpreted as a wound taken while retreating from the enemy. As he would say, no proper Infantryman ever wants such a description!

The 45th Infantry Division (Oklahoma/Colorado/New Mexico National Guard) entered the war with the Sicily Invasion (Operation Husky) and after 4 amphibious Landings, ended the war in Munich, Germany. They ranked 2nd in ETO “days of combat” (511) and 4th in casualties with 20+k.