Veteran's Day Perspective

[Guest Pearville]

For all of you on the forum who served, I wish you a wonderful day, and God bless you all for your service.

In 1967 while in the Houston Fire academy, I came face to face with what it meant to be a veteran. There were two men in our class who had recently returned from Vietnam Mike, and Larry. Larry wore a jacket with "I have served my time in Hell" emblazoned on the back with his unit designation. Mike was quiet and didn't want to talk about his service. Larry had many stories to tell of how it was and all the things he had seen. Mike just listened, and politely refused our urging to tell of his experience. One day at lunch, Mike who lived in a small apartment close to the training ground, invited me to come home with him to make a sandwich for lunch. As we drove toward his home, I asked him, "was it so bad that you just can't talk about it". He said "I'll show you". When we arrived at his apartment, and as he was making our sandwiches, he allowed me to look at some personal photos that had been taken by someone in his front line unit as they carried on their operations. These were the photos that most of us never saw of the sad and hellish nightmare that was Vietnam. Some were of men collecting proof from the bodies of how many Vietcong had been killed, and believe me, you don't want me to explain further. Mike said he only kept them to remind him how fortunate he was to have made it back.

Needless to say I could not eat the sandwich, Mike had made for me, and I never again wondered why Mike was so quiet about his service, or about what war was really like. By the way Mike also told me that the unit number on Larry's jacket told him that Larry was in a quartermaster unit.

I was never drafted for Vietnam because of being married with children I suppose, but that day I realized how much we really owe those who served and are serving, yes even Larry, who we all knew was overplaying his role, went and served like the rest. God bless all the Mikes, and Larrys, and Davids (my family has two Davids who served). For my father who shooed mules at Fort Sill Ok, and my father in law who assembled planes in North Africa, to both Don and David Looper, and my son David may we and they all be proud of what they accomplished by saying Yes I will go through hell on earth to secure freedom for all. I salute you all. Mike.

[Guest mstanleyfl]

For some of us every day is Veteran's Day:

http://www.percongrp.com/pelikan/warlord30/people.htm

[60FlatTop]

My Father was in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He was shipped to England (claimed he made the trip by rail). The new guys arrived at their air base in buses. A huge field at the entrance of the base had rows of plywood troop transport gliders. Those were the ones there loaded with soldiers and towed into the air. Relatively inexperienced pilots tried to land them in France. The stories of the crashes and failed landings preceded their seeing the flying coffins. He told me the ride past them was the quietest time of his life.

Bernie

[JZRIV]

Very well said Mike. Veterans are the real heros in this country. They made sacrifices many of us will never fully comprehend. It's sad that sports and movie stars are put on a higher social pedastal than our vets and to make it worse government assistence programs are geared more towards rewarding those who sit on their rumps doing nothing VS helping wounded or disabled veterans and their families.....but I shouldn't digress.

A sincere thanks to all those who served past and present to maintain our freedom and liberty we enjoy every day.

[dship]

Veteran's Day is a special day for my family. My dad was a 30 year Navy veteran, 1936-1966, retired Sr. Chief Gunners Mate, 3 tours WWII, a Pearl Harbor survivor (battleship USS Oklahoma), 2 tours Korea, and then a DI at San Diego Naval Training Center. He passed away at age 63 in 1981. I lost an uncle, age 26 (my mom's only brother) in the Battle of the Bulge serving in Gen George Patten's 3rd army. My brother served 2 tours Vietnam, Army Engineers, spc5, 1969-1973. He passed away in 2006 at age of 56.

[Guest Pearville]

Veteran's Day is a special day for my family. My dad was a 30 year Navy veteran, 1936-1966, retired Sr. Chief Gunners Mate, 3 tours WWII, a Pearl Harbor survivor (battleship USS Oklahoma), 2 tours Korea, and then a DI at San Diego Naval Training Center. He passed away at age 63 in 1981. I lost an uncle, age 26 (my mom's only brother) in the Battle of the Bulge serving in Gen George Patten's 3rd army. My brother served 2 tours Vietnam, Army Engineers, spc5, 1969-1973. He passed away in 2006 at age of 56.

Your family has really paid the price for freedom. What an honor to belong to such a family.

[Lapham3]

Mike-your story about the combat vet and rear echelon fella reminds me of what my dad said once before he passed. Of his 'knot' of 8-10 pals he grew up with, while most all served, it happened that he was the only one at 'the point of the spear-New Guinea and Phillipines-'42-45. The combat was not continous, but was very tough and very poor climate and lack of water/supplies. He came home as a sick, skinny, worn out guy. He visited Legion and VFW posts a few times and was pretty angered hearing some of the 'war stories' told at the bar=he could tell almost right away the 'pretenders'. When I got my poor lottery number and was likely heading for Vietnam, while mom wanted me to head for Canada, he mentioned that jungle combat was very tough-especially for a Minnesota boy and to maybe come up with something else as a way to serve. So I enlisted and did 4 years as a 'cold warrior' working US based B-52 bomb/nav avionics and avoided the shorter army service. Dan Mpls. Mn

[Guest Pearville]

Mike-your story about the combat vet and rear echelon fella reminds me of what my dad said once before he passed. Of his 'knot' of 8-10 pals he grew up with, while most all served, it happened that he was the only one at 'the point of the spear-New Guinea and Phillipines-'42-45. The combat was not continous, but was very tough and very poor climate and lack of water/supplies. He came home as a sick, skinny, worn out guy. He visited Legion and VFW posts a few times and was pretty angered hearing some of the 'war stories' told at the bar=he could tell almost right away the 'pretenders'. When I got my poor lottery number and was likely heading for Vietnam, while mom wanted me to head for Canada, he mentioned that jungle combat was very tough-especially for a Minnesota boy and to maybe come up with something else as a way to serve. So I enlisted and did 4 years as a 'cold warrior' working US based B-52 bomb/nav avionics and avoided the shorter army service. Dan Mpls. Mn

On 9-ll my son was in Navy basic at Chicago, it of course scared me to death and I worried for his safety. Turns out he served three years as a radioman on an Oiler out of Singapore. They were in the Persian Gulf refueling our ships, but he came home without a scratch. He does not see his service as anything to be proud of, but I keep telling him, if those ships don't have fuel they can't operate. My father in law was a sheet metal mech. in North Africa in WWII, he assembled the planes that were shipped over there. His service was just as important as the pilots. If Larry in my story, had just told us the truth, he would still have been praised for his service, we were in awe of those who had been to Vietnam at that time. At least I was.

[60FlatTop]

I did my basic training at Great Lakes and a few months of Boilerman "A" school. Then they posted my orders to a ship named after a cemetery, the Arlington, in the Gulf of Tonkin. Now, I enjoy an ironic sense of humor, but that one was pushing it a little.

Bernie