My late father was a veteran of the US Army during the Korean War. My late father-in-law was a veteran of the US Army during the Second World War. Each of them was extraordinarily lucky and didn’t have to face combat. I came of age during the Vietnam War and was able to avoid the draft. I now regret that I didn’t do what I should have, and pay my dues for being a citizen of
the finest nation on the planet.
I never did properly thank either of them for what they did. But today, in public, I wish to state for the record –
Thank you, David Bell and Emeric Pausic, for your service to our
country. May you rest in peace, and in the knowledge that you are remembered fondly (in part) for how you put our country before yourselves.
And I would like to extend my warmest greetings and thanks to all our other veterans (Hi, Mike P.! and Mike L., Doug, Philli, and Martin!) and current servicemembers on this special date. Regardless of our personal political beliefs, or our opinions about the `correctness´ of the conflict at hand, these men and women daily put their lives on the line “between their loved homes and the war’s desolation” — for all the rest of us. We should remember Lincoln’s timeless words:
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
Warmest Greetings on this Veterans’ Day.