First, thank you and all the other Veterans on this thread for your service to our country.
Your post really brought back memories for me. It was 1969, and my big brother had enlisted in the Air Force. We acutally have home movies that my late daddy took, of the night before he left....hugs to all in the family...tears and pride, and him hugging his highschool sweetheart like he never wanted to let her go.
Mom made me go to school the next day, I was in the 8th grade. That day was pure torture for me, all I could think of was my brother leaving, and not knowing when I would see him again. After school, there was a basketball game, and although all I wanted to do was go home and cry, I had to go through the motions of a majorette routine at halftime. I probably looked like an idiot, standing there twrilling with tears steaming down my face...:)
Our story had a happy ending, my brother married his childhood sweetheart, and he came home safely after serving 4 years in the Air Force. He now is living a good life, working and spending time with his children and grandchildren.
However, I will never forget that day. I was so proud of my big brother, and still am to this day.
Others didn't make it home, and we should honor them everyday, as well as the brave men and women serving to protect our freedoms now.
Oh my. This sounds like my daughter's story. I just read it to her and she didn't make a peep.
Her brother dropped us off at church the morning he left. She bawled her eyes out all thru church.
She was co-captain of the basketball team. The other co-captain had a sister deploy to Kuwait at the same time my daughter's brother left for Parris Island.
These two girls hustled to represent their siblings.
Their team was undefeated champions that year for the first time in 30 years ; )
Indeed...it hit home during my enlistment when I'd run into other fellow "Boots" and compare notes; I'd estimate that around 10, maybe more, of our original training platoon never saw their 21st birthdays....
...Never held a 1967 "copper clad" coin, never got married, had kids, never got home again period.
I think about Garcia, Jones, Little, and all the others at least once a week....maybe it's that 'survivor's guilt' thing - but I'll never forget my brothers.