Veteran’s Day and eleven, eleven, eleven. It is a date that demands a letter from a troop supporting person to a living, breathing, service- giving hero.
Today is a day of remembrance, I think of my father, a seventeen year old kid, so young and naive that all through navy basic training kept writing his mom about how the laundry was shrinking his uniforms. It wasn’t until his first leave home, that he realized he had grown 6 inches in those months away. There is a great family story about how he come home without telling his mom he was coming. He knocked on the front door, like a guest, and when his petite mother opened the door, she had to look up and up, past the all that white uniform to find a face. And even then it took her a few moments to recognize her now 6’4” son. He was leaner and taller, but still a mischief maker. After that the Navy sent him to the Pacific, and it was almost 4 years before she saw him again.
Today I think of men like my father in law. Not combat able, he served in the merchant marines during WWII. These men helped keep the needed materials and supplies for troop support moving to the factories.
Today I think about my husband. Nine years an active Marine. Brian is an uncomplaining Vietnam Era veteran, with partial disability due to bad knees, and ringing in both ears that never stops. He mourns friends lost in the embassy attack in Beirut, those taken hostage in Iran, and more lost in the 9-11 attacks. He is still able to nail a target when out shooting with the ‘country boys’ here, and unashamedly gets teary eyed when the Marine Corps Hymn plays.
And there are my sons: Shawn and Josh. The oldest, separated from the Navy with 10 years duty as a sub-mariner. This boy was the best fire builder in the state. Whenever the scouts went camping, he was the one that could get a fire going, even in the rain with wet kindling, a real pyrotechnic. The Navy in their wisdom taught him how to run a nuclear reactor on a submarine. Now he is using his education benefits to complete a college education while working a full time job.
The second born, who as a child was non-containable, the do it now take the consequences later kid. He is an Army pilot. The proud father of five children, he flies Apache helicopters. He has completed three deployments, 2 in Iraq and 1 in Afghanistan. Currently he is passing on his combat experience training new pilots.
Today I think about these men, and remember that there are thousands of others with their own stories. And each is a hero. Not because of great deeds under fire. Yes, there are those extraordinary acts we call heroism. But it is the day in- day out heroes I remember today. The ones that answer the call and willing serve their country. The ones that understand freedom for a nation requires sacrifice of some for the betterment of all and stand in the breach. It is the willingness that makes the hero.
Today I remember. Today I give thanks. Today I know I have today because of heroes like these.
