God Bless The American Soldier
Yesterday was Veteran's Day and signs of the significance of the day were all around us. Gosh, even our favorite morning show, The Price Is Right, had an all Veteran audience. The local television station carried part of the Tucson Annual Veteran's Day Parade - one of the oldest in the nation. The campground we are staying at offered a free lunch to all Veterans. Mike broke out his Nicollet Legion cap, complete with pins, and we both put on our "flag shirts" (you know the ones stores sell around the 4th). Others in the park had their flag shirts on and even flag earrings. After lunch we decided to go golfing and the driveway to the course was lined with flags; Mike's golf was free. The recognition of service on Veteran's Day is nice.
But what got me out of bed to write this is thoughts of our next door neighbor. We sat next to Bob and Betty at lunch and then later 7 of us had tacos and beer together. Bob is a World War II Veteran and he spoke proudly of his recent visit to Washington, DC to see "his memorial". "I'd seen the other memorials (for other wars and other soldiers), you know, but this one was special." He even had a DVD he wanted to share with the group, but the machine didn't work... or no one knew how to run it...
Today, Bob is on an oxygen tank and has his bad days and good days with way too many doctor appointments. But if you look past that you see a man who graduated in 1945 and then proudly went to serve his country. You see a fellow who admits to "using Vet's Preference to get a job once, but only once." You see a man with a gleam in his eye, who still flirts with the opposite sex, while his wife of 50+ years rolls her eyes. You see a proud American Soldier.
Mike served his country in "peace time" (early Vietnam era) and he did not see combat. Like Bob, he graduated high school and then proudly went to serve his country. He too is a proud American Soldier.
I came of age in the Vietnam Era and like many of my counterparts, I protested that war. I cut up the American Flag and sewed the stripes in one leg of my bell bottoms and the stars in the other to demonstrate the division within our country. I went to rallys and handed out flyers on the corner of my little college town. I cared passionately about the war and about my country. I thought little about the soldiers, except they shouldn't be forced to fight a war "nobody believed in".
As we were consuming our Mexican food last night at the local brewery, I couldn't help noticing an adjacent table of 5 men and a woman. Their haircuts and age told me they were soliders. I thought about what was going on in the world right now and what their futures might hold. I thought about Bob and "The Greatest Generation" and those soldiers in Vietnam who would have been my age had they lived. I thought about Tiny who had nightmares years after returning from there and Richard who spent his life in service to America, and Andrew who gave his life in Iraq.
I still don't like war; perhaps I should be more passionate about that even now. But, I do love the American Soldier. Thank You to each and every Veteran. And Thank You to the wives, and mothers, and grandmothers who stand by them.
God Bless The American Soldier!
But what got me out of bed to write this is thoughts of our next door neighbor. We sat next to Bob and Betty at lunch and then later 7 of us had tacos and beer together. Bob is a World War II Veteran and he spoke proudly of his recent visit to Washington, DC to see "his memorial". "I'd seen the other memorials (for other wars and other soldiers), you know, but this one was special." He even had a DVD he wanted to share with the group, but the machine didn't work... or no one knew how to run it...
Today, Bob is on an oxygen tank and has his bad days and good days with way too many doctor appointments. But if you look past that you see a man who graduated in 1945 and then proudly went to serve his country. You see a fellow who admits to "using Vet's Preference to get a job once, but only once." You see a man with a gleam in his eye, who still flirts with the opposite sex, while his wife of 50+ years rolls her eyes. You see a proud American Soldier.
Mike served his country in "peace time" (early Vietnam era) and he did not see combat. Like Bob, he graduated high school and then proudly went to serve his country. He too is a proud American Soldier.
I came of age in the Vietnam Era and like many of my counterparts, I protested that war. I cut up the American Flag and sewed the stripes in one leg of my bell bottoms and the stars in the other to demonstrate the division within our country. I went to rallys and handed out flyers on the corner of my little college town. I cared passionately about the war and about my country. I thought little about the soldiers, except they shouldn't be forced to fight a war "nobody believed in".
As we were consuming our Mexican food last night at the local brewery, I couldn't help noticing an adjacent table of 5 men and a woman. Their haircuts and age told me they were soliders. I thought about what was going on in the world right now and what their futures might hold. I thought about Bob and "The Greatest Generation" and those soldiers in Vietnam who would have been my age had they lived. I thought about Tiny who had nightmares years after returning from there and Richard who spent his life in service to America, and Andrew who gave his life in Iraq.
I still don't like war; perhaps I should be more passionate about that even now. But, I do love the American Soldier. Thank You to each and every Veteran. And Thank You to the wives, and mothers, and grandmothers who stand by them.
God Bless The American Soldier!
posted by jf and me | 5:22 AM
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