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That's a wonderful idea, snippy! I know there are local Veterans offices, too, where counseling is provided, lots of the Vietnam vets have needed help, in part because of the way they were treated. A bouquet would be welcome in those offices, too.

Several years ago, before I retired, I swam at the local Y, and on Saturdays got into the habit of chatting briefly with a fellow swimmer. I talked of my excitement about taking flying lessons and he talked about his father who built many of the wooden gliders for use in Europe in WWII. I told him my flight instructor was an old WASP pilot, still sharp as a nail in her mid-seventies. He asked if she knew the WASPs had finally gotten official recognition as vets, then asked her name and said he'd send her information about benefits.

Well, soon after she became seriously ill. She turned me over to another instructor and I drove up to visit her at the hospital on the weekends. One day she told me of an amazing visit from a woman who she'd trained with in the WASPs....a woman who now worked for the Veterans' Affairs, who came to see her about enrolling for benefits! She was terribly excited, and pleased. She died soon after, but was comforted that she was going to have a military burial, wear her uniform, and at the gravesite, a few of her friends did a 'fly-over.'

There's veterans of all sorts, men and women. I really do treasure them all, and feel fortunate to have known quite a few.

My mother served as a WAVE in WWII at Ford Island and is treated today in Virginia at her local Veteran's hospital/clinic.

They see very few women and treat her like a queen. She has nothing but praise for the staff there. Her service too has been recognized and that is a good thing. We do sometimes forget the women veterans who served as well.

While I'm at it, we often hear horror stories of the Veterans Affairs hospital and clinics and granted they could use much improvement. However, I know from too much experience both in Ohio and Virginia that the staff, many of them veterans themselves, and especially the veterans who work serving our veterans, have the very best intentions and work with what they have to treat our veterans needing their services the best they can.

There are good and bad in all the hospitals and clinics but most to blame is the funding of and administration of those hospitals. You can only do so much with the money given. It needs to be more.

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