Love Freedom?...hug a Vet!!

My daddy was a red, white and blue flag waver from the get go. Over and over we heard of his adventures on the U.S.S. Mississippi. I think he said he loaded the big shells in the cannons mounted in turrets. Once, they were indirectly hit and when he looked over at his buddy, the buddy's eye was hanging out of it's socket. They both recovered, but every time the weather would change, Dad would rub his shoulder, his "war wound." I think he was always a little sorry that his shoulder had just been dislocated...he'd have loved to have had a scar to show off. He talked about the fellow sailors who lost their lives and painted word pictures of sunset burials at sea . I have one letter that he wrote from his ship shortly after they'd been hit and he talks about what good men they lost. It was Christmas Day, 1944. He'd been to church and was looking forward to lunch. You could tell he missed being at home. Besides the stories, I remember him singing us awake with
"Rally 'Round the Flag" or "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere." We learned early on about Gold Star mothers as old Aunt Deely's son had died in a submarine. We went to church with her. Her boy signed up with Dad and some other friends. They all wanted submarine duty but Aunt Deely's son was the only one who got assigned to a sub. They all came home from the war.

Unlike WWII, we get to debate and second guess our commanders-in-chief and generals and admirals and such. We get to watch skirmishes and battles every night on the news. We're able to see a smart bomb hit it's target in real time, just like if we were on the battlelines. I guess that's all right, I appreciate freedom of the press. I have to wonder, though, if we haven't become desensitized and a little jaded with the magnitude of having Americans fighting and dying; like it's some video game we can turn off after the 10 o'clock news and sleep well without another thought.

I'm glad that Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Veteran's Day into being in 1954. It gives us one day to be reminded to thank those Veterans still alive who put their lives on hold for months or years so that we CAN sleep well in our own beds at night. Veterans from WWII are passing away at the rate of 1500 per day. If you know a veteran, spend a little time with them this weekend. Tell them thanks and listen to their stories. They're a precious American treasure!!