He sat in his congressman's office surrounded by his family, and received the Bronze Star for bravery after fifty-three years. He cried as he told his story. He was drafted shortly after Pearl Harbor. An Army infantryman during World War II in the European Theatre, he was captured by the Germans in the Tunisian Invasion of North Africa and taken prisoner. My grandfather, Joseph Mandese, spent two years in a prisoner of war camp. He was given a cup of water, a piece of cheese, and a piece of bread each day. He was tortured during interrogations. Lice were embedded under his skin, and he suffered from dysentery. Along with four other prisoners, they planned and executed an escape that took them through the mountains of Italy. They hid in fields and relied on the generosity of an Italian family for fourteen months until it became to dangerous. His ordeal ended when the Fascists fell, and they met American troops. He was eighty-five pounds and had been in the same clothes for three and one-half years. During this time his family had mistakenly received notice of his death.
The young congressman and his staff, who worked to help him get his long overdue medal, were amazed by my grandfather's recall of dates and places. I am proud of him. He is eighty-one years old now and he wears his medal proudly.
My grandfather truly believes that his contributions and those of other soldiers in World War II helped save our democracy. He is correct. Our great country is great because of the people, men and women, who gave their life, their health, and the innocence of their youth to go to foreign lands and fight for freedom. My generation is very much removed from the horrors of war. It is through the recent war movies, such as, Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, that we can vividly see the atrocities of war. Veterans Day could be a time when our schools organize programs in which we would hear the first hand accounts of soldiers who are still alive from the different wars. By hearing their stories, like I heard my grandfather's, we would be touched by their brave efforts.
The teen-agers of today are enjoying the freedoms we have because of those who served and protected those freedoms. I enjoy spending time with friends and running frequently to stay in shape. What would my life be like if I were now saluting another flag? Would I be doing the things I love to do? Would I be forced to do things that the government would want me to do? Would my future choices be restricted? The answers to all these questions are unknown, but one certainty is that our freedoms were safeguarded by our veteran's efforts. I am certain that what our veterans have done will not and have not gone unnoticed.
There are many like my grandfather who have served our country in or out of wars by being in military service. Our flag and the freedom that it symbolizes was protected by their peace and war time efforts. On November 11, what can we do to honor our veterans? How can we show them our gratitude? Some concrete ways to show them that we appreciate their bravery would be to: take a moment in our busy schedules and remember them in a moment of silence, attend the local Veterans Parade, support veteran organizations, or simply tell a veteran--thank you.