Thoughts on a Veteran

As it is Veteran’s Day I started thinking about a friend from high school who enlisted in the army just after he graduated.

He showed up late one evening at my parent’s house where I was home on break from college. He had been drinking and asked if I would go for a walk with him. We walked up the road to a little macadam path that turned off the road and sat on a log on the side of the path and as we sat there he started to cry; he had just gotten his orders for Viet Nam.

I put my arm around his shoulders and let him cry it out.

Later he apologized for drinking before coming over and said he had eaten an onion bagel on the way over to my parents to try to hide the smell of the alcohol. He didn’t want my parents to think badly of him for drinking.

I just wanted to tell you about him. It seemed important.