As you go about doing what it is that you do today, stop and at least give a thought to why you're even able to do it in the first place.
It's because of the sacrifices people have made before a lot of us were even born. In every instance (bar none) when our liberty and freedom has been threatened we've turned to the military to bail us out.
Regardless of the situation, regardless of the personal sacrifices it required, regardless of where or when, regardless of the conditions they were asked to fight is, the American Veteran has never let us down.
I have plenty to say about the killing spree at Fort Hood the other day, but I'll just hold my tongue till tomorrow.
Today, it's about thanking all Veterans for the sacrifices they've made in the past and the one's they continue making to this day. We owe them a debt we can never properly re-pay.
Freedom is not free.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks to those who have fought and died for the very freedom I enjoy each and every day.
I'll save my soap box on tolerating the intolerant for another day as well.
Your Uncle Ray was in the D Day Landings. We hunted together until he was too old to hunt anymore as cancer took him out after Nazis couldn't. He waited until the 50th anniversary to tell me some about it. He ended up the war in Patton's army and said that if ol' Blood & Guts had told them to do it they would have kicked ***damn Russians back to Moscow. God rest Ray's soul.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Hawk, I really miss Ray. He was a good guy and he was always good to me.
ReplyDeleteI never had a chance to talk to him about the war. I did have a conversation with Glen about his war experiences. Evidently, he was a paratrooper and talked about it a little bit. He talked about how they'd jump out of a perfectly good plane in the middle of the night right on top of the Germans as they were shooting everything they had at them.
I asked him if he was afraid of being shot as they drifted to the ground. He just kinda laughed and told me the Germans were terrible shots. First off, he said they didn't just drift to the ground. Because of the little parachutes they had back in those days, it was more like a plunge to the death. He said he was more afraid of the fall than anything the Germans could throw at them.
Hawk, I'm glad you brought Uncle Ray up. I'm working in Concordia this week and pheasant season starts this weekend. No matter where I am or how old I get, I'll always remember the hunts you guys used to have and how much fun we had at Grandma's house in Claflin. I think about those days often.
And, Shawnee, don't worry there'll be plenty of time to get up on that soap box of yours. I'm looking forward to it...