Memorial Day is also about a grateful nation.
“Memorial Day is also about a grateful nation.”
Each year I remember the vets who had a hands on approach to every aspect of their peacetime communities, and all for the good. A WWI vet who taught me how to fish; a WWII vet who taught me how to pack, hike, and camp with low visibility, a Korean War vet and former POW (Chosin Reservoir) who taught me to NEVER accept a superficial assessment of any situation, claim, document or authority;
a Vietnam vet who taught me how to make scale models from scratch. These are just a very, very few of those I recall.
Most of all I remember my dad. So many of those guys taught me ‘dad’ things in his absence, as he was gone half the time helping to win the Cold War on five different continents. I always sulked when he was TDY, feeling very hard done by, and never thought until after he passed away how much he missed home, but never whined about it.
I don’t think most veterans’ service to the their nation and their people ends in the military. It begins there.
For those who have passed, may God keep, comfort and restore you.
For those still living, may God bless and keep you, and show you how appreciated and beloved you are.