There has been a military plane flyover of our small town today. A B-25 was leading the flight with another 20 WWII aircraft following. Tomorrow, we are participating in the Veteran's day parade in Cedar Park Texas. We have done this the past two years and it is an honor to be asked to return this year.
As a Vet I appreciate the thanks. My thanks go out to all who served, our freedom should never be taken for granted it's only maintained by our willingness to defend ourselves and for that we need citizens willing to serve. Thanks to all.
Yes, thank you Tom from posting this and especially thank you to everyone who serves or has served selflessly, so that we can enjoy t he privilege of living selfishly. sincerely, thank you.
I have a question for the group? Those of us who served in the military (non conflict engagements) are still considered to be Veterans. On the other hand, I have had youngsters confront me and asked if I served during the war. It does not seem right to me to compare myself or others, who served during peace time eras, to be grouped with those Veterans, who saw such terrible bloodshed and death. This has always been difficult for me to analyze when asked by anyone. I always indicate I served during peactime and never saw any battle conflicts.
Don, You bring up an interesting point. I voluntarily joined the army reserves prior to my college graduation in 1966. I was willing to serve, but I wanted it to be my choice and not by way of the draft. I expected to be called up and was prepared to do whatever it took to serve my country. During my basic training at Fort Knox, I was informed that because I had a case history of asthma and had been treated for it within the prior year, I had two options: accept limited duty going forward or receive a medical discharge based on erroneous induction (I did not know before then that asthma was a condition that disqualified me from being inducted). Ironically, I had finished first in my platoon and second in the company in the recent PT exercises. I accepted the medical discharge, not because I was happy to get out, but because I could not envision a restricted status for the remainder of my military service. I've been going to my grandchildren's grandparents day at their school for 12 years. It's always held the Friday prior to Veterans Day, and there is a ceremony to honor the grandparents who are veterans. Until a couple of years ago, I didn't stand up and go to the front of the auditorium when they called up the veterans. I felt that I had not served long enough to be considered a veteran. When I told this story to a friend who had received a Purple Heart in Vietnam, he scolded me for thinking that way and told me that my desire to serve and the time I voluntarily had put in qualified me as a veteran. I still feel unqualified compared to my fellow citizens who have fought and died in war, but I accepted my friend's assessment and now consider myself a veteran. Happy Veterans Day to all who have served, from the career Marine, AJ, down to the would-be soldier, me.
Thanks to all of you guys, whether front line or not. Either way you were willing to serve the greater good for the rest of us and I will never stop appreciating it.
We're all Vets Don, I served during the Viet Nam war but they didn't give Dentist's Guns and put them in harms way. I served my whole tour in San Diego. But I was part of the effort to get our guys who were going into harms way ready for the conflict. Hard to be an efficient soldier with a bad toothache!
When you enlist, you put yourself in the position of going where ever your government decides to send you. That is what makes you deserving of the nation's thanks and respect.
:idea: They can't change Veterans Day. It's a day remembered around the world under different names. It celebrates the end of World War I; at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month in 1918. Thank you vets!
:!: :idea: Great find Sid. That was fabulous. That grandfather had the right idea. These kids don't know, so we have to teach them. I get questions from the class like, "Did you fight in the Civil War? They're so young...they have no concept of time. Nor do they understand that history is happening all around them and they have their heads down in a video game. A few years back, the movie "Red Tails" came out about the black fighter pilots known as the "Tuskegee Airmen" in WWII. The kids had no interest in it as they asked, "What does that have to do with us?" They argued that it was a desert and nothing ever happened there. The next day, I brought in a newspaper clipping from their home town rag and their jaws dropped. The last Tuskegee Airman had died the day before. He lived in Hesperia, California...three blocks from the school. History had been sitting right there in the neighborhood all along...and they missed it.
Tuskegee Airmen: the most discriminated against but most deadly P-51 squadron in the war. The B-17 pilots breathed a sigh of relief in seeing those red tails show up. As most can tell by my Facebook cover photo, I am a WWI plane fanatic. I also have a framed print of one of the red tails on our wall.