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.
Showing posts with label Veterans Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Veterans Day. Show all posts
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Remembrance of Things Past...and Present
This weekend is Veterans Day. I know because I have been receiving Veterans Day sales circulars all week.
What are you doing to acknowledge this holiday? Participating in a veteran related activity or a commemorative service? Watching a war movie?
Today I went to the Manville VFW Hall where a few hundred people – scouts, seniors, church groups, veterans – were preparing gift boxes to be sent out to active troops. I watched “We Were Soldiers”, a movie about Viet Nam that was recommended to me by a family member who served there, as the most realistic movie about what it was like to fight there.
Today in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. was opened to the public. Twenty-five years ago and it still touches our hearts. Over 58,000 names and the politicians still haven’t learned.
So, what are doing this weekend? Going to a sale or maybe something else?
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"The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my Heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love." - Walt Whitman (1819-1892), Dirge for Two Veterans
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Last year around Veterans Day a Hillsborough resident suggested to the Township Committee that they look into having part of the GSA Depot set aside as a veterans’ cemetery and it was acknowledged as a good idea. Whatever happened to that?
What are you doing to acknowledge this holiday? Participating in a veteran related activity or a commemorative service? Watching a war movie?
Today I went to the Manville VFW Hall where a few hundred people – scouts, seniors, church groups, veterans – were preparing gift boxes to be sent out to active troops. I watched “We Were Soldiers”, a movie about Viet Nam that was recommended to me by a family member who served there, as the most realistic movie about what it was like to fight there.
Today in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. was opened to the public. Twenty-five years ago and it still touches our hearts. Over 58,000 names and the politicians still haven’t learned.
So, what are doing this weekend? Going to a sale or maybe something else?
##
"The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my Heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love." - Walt Whitman (1819-1892), Dirge for Two Veterans
##
Last year around Veterans Day a Hillsborough resident suggested to the Township Committee that they look into having part of the GSA Depot set aside as a veterans’ cemetery and it was acknowledged as a good idea. Whatever happened to that?
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