Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veteran's Day

Defiant Infidel, a very conservative blog here in Maine, emailed me yesterday. They were asking their readers to forward some pictures of family and friends who had served or were serving in the armed services. It was their desire to put together a video on Veteran's Day honoring the many vets who are found in and around all of our lives. I thought, "Damn what a nice gesture." So I sent them a picture of my father and one of my nephew.

I have other relatives/friends, close and otherwise, who have served. But of them all, Bobby, my nephew strikes deep into my soul. He died in 2005 serving our country in the recent conflict in Iraq. My father(pictured here as a new full colonel in the mid 1940s) stands tall in my mind because he not only gave 31 years of his life defending our nation, he is my father.

I honor them today by remembering them not for their connection to me but for the duty they performed in the name of our country. No matter how I feel about the stupidity of war, I cannot be anything but grateful and proud of their sacrifice.

Soldiers die in wars. Soldiers kill in wars. That we even need them in our World is a sad statement on how we humans interact with each other. But they do exist and to not take a few minutes once in awhile to remember them without judgement or rancor is the very least I could do.

Take moment of silence. Or be loud and be proud. But on this Veteran's Day thank any vet you know for what they gave up in the service to our country.

7 comments:

Dawn Fortune said...

beautiful post. simply beautiful.

Randal Graves said...

Soldiers die in wars. Soldiers kill in wars. That we even need them in our World is a sad statement on how we humans interact with each other.

As the young people say, word.

Take moment of silence. Or be loud and be proud. But on this Veteran's Day thank any vet you know for what they gave up in the service to our country.

And again.

NorthCountryLiberal said...

Elegantly said. Thank you.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Yes, I agree with Dawn. Absolutely beautiful. And thanks for sharing your story on my blog today.

robin andrea said...

I always think of my father on Veteran's Day. He fought in World War II, landed in Normandy D-Day plus 3, and fought behind enemy lines in the Battle of the Bulge. He was a quiet man and was in some ways always haunted by what he saw as a medic in the war.

As you say, that we even need warriors and the machinery of war is a sad statement. There must be a better way to live.

amidnightrider said...

Some great stuff here. I heard about the WW1 blog on NPR today. The highway is a tribute to the fall that is second to none. We may be free enough to do that soon.

The letter boxing is OK during the day, but doing it at night is really the cat's meow.

El Cerdo Ignatius said...

Great post, Macrum. Thank you.