[Maigrey]

Well, let me offer my hand of thanks to you for your service. My father was the same - 3 1/2 years in the Navy as an Aviation mechanic - and never discussed his real service. (he also had some issues of delusions of grandeur, but that is a story for another day)

I told him one day that, whatever he did while he was in, I was proud of, for him standing up and being counted.

I think that was his best day, and he never forgot it.

[The Citizen Soldier]

Thank you my friend.

When I finally shared the details of my military service with my kids, they certainly understood I was no hero. Indeed, I had to tell them about being confused and conflicted as a young twenty year-old trying to sort out the unpopular war.

For me and my two brothers, it was always about doing our duty. Our father was a POW in WWII, who was liberated at the end of the war. He was 19 years-old at the time. To me, that was real sacrifice by the greatest generation. Regretably, he still had nightmares twenty-five years later.

Thanks in large part to President Reagan, One of the highlights of my dad's life was when he was given the Prisoner of War Medal in 1985. He passed away in 1991.