Thursday, November 12, 2009

SALUTE to our Veterans! by DL Larson

Did you hug a Vet, yesterday? Or tell a Vet thank you for their unselfish service? Perhaps you attended a community parade honoring our fallen veterans. Maybe you watched a bit of the service at Fort Hood, heard the President's solemn words about sacrifice and the convictions we hold dear regarding freedom.

Our freedom is a precious commodity. It may never be paid for in full. Seems with every generation a new crop of radicals find ways to sabotage our basic rights to live as we see fit. We retaliate by defending our beliefs, because if we don't, freedom would perish and with it all we as Americans cherish.

Last evening I attended the WindyCity RWA monthly meeting where a Vietnam Vet and his wife of 40+ years were the guest speakers. They talked of "how things were back then," meaning the late 1960's and early 1970's. My generation. Many Vietnam vets have in the last ten years started talking about their experience. Before that time, very few spoke up. Maybe they couldn't verbalize their fears and trials of war because no one wanted to listen; maybe the WWII vets didn't consider Vietnam a REAL war and so the Vietnam vets went underground. Maybe the media had caused too many hearts to harden and the general population thought they knew too much about that ugly war and simply wanted to move on.

Regardless of the reason, I hope we see more Vietnam vets speak up, admit they served our country. We, as citizens can in turn say "thank you" for standing guard during such turmoil. Maybe this blog will encourage a Vietnam vet to wear his veteran's hat in public, or give him the nudge he needs to tell his children he served his country and why. I pray all our vets, men, women, young and old, know how much they are honored and appreciated for keeping our freedom alive.

God Bless and SALUTE to each!

Til next time ~

DL Larson

5 comments:

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

My husband was a career US Navy Seabee and served three tours in Vietnam. Fortunately we lived in a service town, Oxnard, with three bases close by, Port Hueneme Seabee base, Oxnard Air Force Base (no longer in existence) and Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station. We did not have to suffer any of the slurs or remarks others did since so many people were involved in the way one way or another.

Hubby doesn't talk about his experiences much--no he didn't have to shoot at people, but he was shot at often and his base was fired upon numerous times. His job was building airfields and sometime using his bulldozer to dig up tunnels--with an armed Marine beside him as he worked.

And yes, I hugged a vet yesterday, the one I'm married to.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Deb Larson said...

Bless you and your hubby.
I love the Marines! My uncle was in the Marines, and now I have a nephew and a great nephew serving. Both are stationed in San Diego.
Thanks so much for sharing your story with us.
DL Larson

Sally_Odgers said...

Um... when I read the opening words, I wondered how MY vet would react if I hugged HER after she vaccinated my dogs! It took me quite a few seconds to realise you meant "Military Personnel" rather than "Veterinarians".

Lesley said...

I put my flag out!!! in honor of my Grandfather and all the veterans. God bless 'em!
http://lesleyvance.blogspot.com/

Deb Larson said...

Sally: Sorry for the confusion. Guess I thought the title would suffice: Salute to our Veterans!

And Lesley - Yeah to the flag waving. We have our flag out every day!
Thanks everyone for sharing!!
DL Larson