Remembrance Day

[Crankin]

Last year, I emailed someone in our town government about a slightly military related topic. When he answered me, he ended with, "and thank you for your son, Scott's, service in the Marine Corps."
I was kind of amazed that he had taken the time to find out my son's name, and what branch of the service he was in.
I am now very aware of veterans, in a way that I never have been.

[Pax]

My beloved dad was a career military man who spent most of my youth in SE Asia with three tours in Vietnam. I am an Army veteran and Veterans Day was always really special to he and I. I went to visit his grave in the National Cemetery on Sunday, standing there with him and all our fellow Vets was comforting, I'm glad he's resting with them.

[bmccasland]

I was born and raised in a family with a long history in the military. Grew up as an Air Force brat, and now for various twists of fait, I work for the Army Corps of Engineers.

My natural father was a navigator in the Air Force, and was killed in a plane crash when I was 3 days old. When I was 2, Mom remarried to an AF pilot - there was a concerted effort that young AF widows did not stay widows for very long.

During part of Viet Nam, Dad was an ROTC prof at a southern university - so we didn't see demonstrations on campus, then he got orders to go over there. When he returned, my sister was 18 mo old, and had no concept who the strange man was in the house - Daddy was a photo, and a voice on the cassette tapes. Her brain couldn't process that the living breathing man was Daddy. He was so hurt that she was afraid of him. Then we got sent to an AF base in Michigan - where university students would drive 3+ hours to come demonstrate outside the gates. But as a kid, I liked living there better than the civilian neighborhood I left - the kids understood what was going on, and why Daddy wasn't home. Of course we knew what happened when a family suddenly moved away while the Dad was gone - he was either MIA or dead. But base services were there to help them, help us, and protect us from the university kids protesting just outside the gate. Never liked them, it wasn't MY fault my Dad was in Viet Nam , for two tours.

Dad did come home, but he wasn't the same ever again. When he retired it got worse. I talked to a counselor at the VA at a job fair once. He was one of those men who needed the regimented life, and once he retired, all those ghosts came back. He always prided himself that he always brought his crew back, although not necessarily alive (Dad was a B-52 pilot). However, one time when he was telling "no kidding there I was..." stories to my brother's roommates from the AF Academy who were going through pilot training (lubricated with a drink or two or three), he told us about the time he got shot down, and when he came to, he was looking at the wrong end of his own pistol. Fortunately the villagers that found him were only interested in robbing them, and it helped they were very close to a US military base.

Dad suffers from severe PTSD - certified nuttier than a Christmas fruitcake. If you met him, you wouldn't know, thanks to modern pharmaceuticals. But he's bitter towards the government, has destroyed all his medals. During a 5-yr dark hole in his life, was in and out of jail and VA psych wards. Fortunately his best friend is also a Vet, as Dad won't go to therapy sessions at the VA. Two tours of 'Nam ruined his sanity, and his marrige to my mother.

So on Veteran's Day / Armistice Day I remember my Uncle Pat, that I never knew, who was killed over Italy during WWII; my Uncles who served in Korea; my Dad who lost his mind thanks to 'Nam and the lack of services for Vets during that era (even now the military is loath to admit servicemen and women are having mental health problems); my brother who currently serves in the Air Force; and my colleagues - military and civilian - that have or are currently serving in Iraq and Afganistan.

And I can't hear the "Going Home" lament without choking up.

I also look for the men from the VFW hall selling poppies. Hope I can find one today.

Sorry this is rather long, but Veteran's Day is a difficult one for me.

To end on a happy note.... Thank you to the people of France that respectively continue to take care of the cemetaries for the foreign soldiers that fought and died during WWII.

[Smilie]

Very touching stories everyone. Thanks for sharing.

[Popoki_Nui]

Lest we Forget...

[LBTC]

Thank you

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~