Thanks to all who have served to protect us. To all past and present men and women who made the major sacrifices so we can enjoy everything we are blessed with in this country, THANK YOU!
Thank you Veterans!
Ditto
Amen.
Me too - but I sincerely wish we could learn to words instead of firearms to solve problems.
Yes, thank-you for sacrificing your today for our tomorrow. We are truly blessed.
To all who are serving or who have served - a huge thank you!
To all the wives, husbands, parents, children, friends and neighbors who wait - God bless you.
Always: GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Thanks to our vets and their lo.ved ones
I agree, many thanks to all of you for all you have given us.
Great idea for this thread, Victor.
Ditto to all of the above sentiments!
Victor - very nice of you to start this thread. Our veterans and those still serving deserve to be honored. Prayers for them and their families. Their service is greatly appreciated for they are giving up much to serve our country. Eleanor
I'm grateful to my dad who served in WWII, my uncle who was in Korea, and all those I didn't/don't know who served.
I would also like to recognize all the servicemen who never made it into battle - the ones behind the desk, fixing machines, or with a mop and bucket. Without you, those on the front wouldn't have been able to do their job. You are important!
My mother-in-law was a WREN during WWII; she went overseas and worked in London during the German bombings.
Her father and uncles served in WWI as did my grandfather. I am the lucky generation. No major war for Canada after Korea.
Canadians did serve in the first Gulf War and are currently serving in Afganistan. Thanks Victor for starting this thread.
And Primrose - I echo your sentiments.
Thank you Victor. I wish I had seen this thread earlier.
I could write pages and pages of thanks to all of the veterans. I have known quite a few. As a military wife, I also know the stories of all those who support their husbands, brothers, sons, and dads behind the scenes. There will never be enough to repay them for their sacrifices. But, we have all accepted the position, 'as is'.
My special thanks go to those veterans who followed orders and were placed in situations which had such serious repercussions decades later. I admire your dedication and your beliefs.
Thank you for being a standard-bearer.
My DH enlisted in the Air Force as a freshman in college - he was hoping to get into the Air Force Band, which is a good gig. (This was in lieu of being drafted.) They give him an aptitude test, he forgets to ONLY do well on the music part, next thing he knows he's in the Air Force learning Mandarin so he can spy on the Viet Cong. Spent 2 years in Viet Nam and another 2 in Japan flying over Viet Nam. Sometimes comes in handy having a big white guy who is fluent in Mandarin around! First two years we slept in a bed together, he would wake up every night having nightmares of plane crashes.
xx, Carrie
My heartfelt Thanks to all veterans and their families. Without you we wouldn't have the freedoms which we enjoy everyday.
My dad served in WWII. He was in Normandy on D-day where he drew a short straw for smallboat duty(the captain made everyone draw straws because he said he didn't want to feel responsible for killing anyone). The LST138 he was serving on needed repairs and left him and his buddy for 6 weeks! They would run brass from the ships to the shore and back again. They slept in the small boat at night. When their LST came back no-one could believe they were still in one piece and so was their boat! He even saw General Patton on the beach!
This message was edited Nov 14, 2007 7:58 PM
Wow - that's impressive! Thank you for sharing that.
My Dad was in WW2 also. My uncle that just passed was at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. He also served in Korea and was honorably discharged from the Navy, airforce & seabees.
He never spoke of it. Another uncle was killed at Anzio, another captured during the Balle of the Bulge and went from 200 puonds to 96 in a few months.
I remember my Dad laughing when we ran into someone he was discharged wit who kept referring to WW2 as a "good war"
The sad truth is that so many soldiers never could - or would - speak of their wartime experiences, and by not doing so, spent years in emotional torment. I am a firm believer in 'talking things out', simply because I have seen first hand what not talking can do to a person's health.
Yes - that was definitely a generational thing. 'Real men' didn't talk about feelings back then. Glad to see things have changed for the better. The WW2 men just wanted to close that chapter completely and start a new life. Unfortunately, keeping it bottled up just doesn't work for most people.
My FIL was in WW II and he kept it bottled up as long as he could and then he cracked. He died 9 years ago and he spent most of his life living in another world that wasn't real. He had his nervous breakdown before I met him. Of course the government denied that it came from war so there was little help in taking care of him. Eleanor
It was a similar thing with the Viet Nam vets.
My DH never spoke about his four years there except for one time about 8 years ago when he broke into tears for no reason and spoke of an old fisherman that 'just wanted to show me his fish'.
I still tear up when I think about that time.
Very tragic and sad that these men couldn't be helped.
My DH made a big mistake by ENLISTING. The drinking, drugs, rowdiness, sex, marriage etc. all (or mostly) resulted from the horrible things he had to do for Viet Nam War. He once blew up a hospital by mistake. [Personally, I'm not sure I see the difference between blowing up a village and blowing up a hospital.] He is still bothered, haunted even by that - it wasn't his error, btw. x, C
Carrie, How is he doing these days? Politics aside, we all need to think about what we are asking of our soldiers.
My Dad was a WWII vet, spent most of his time in Paris. He never did talk much about it, was to painful. I do know that he was a aircraft tower dispatcher and that im lucky to be here. He had got a call that enemy planes were on their way to bomb the airport, he had 15 minutes to evacuate. He made it out in 15 minutes and as they were driving away to safety he watched the tower he had been standing in blow up along with the rest of that airport.
Also said the mail service was extremely slow if you were over sea's. His mother died, he got the letter and when he read the date......she had been dead for almost 2 months. He was 24 yrs. old. He went A.W.O.L., they found him 10 days later in an alley very drunk and dirty.
The only other thing he told me was when they were marching towards the concentration camps he could smell the stench of burning flesh. He said they were more than 5 miles away and he knew what that smell was and he carried that smell along with the memory. It haunted him for the rest of his life, he said it was and is the most helpless feeling he had ever felt.
Now my brother was in Vietnam in the jungles. He contracted malaria which he still suffers from to this day. That is minor compared to his nightmares, those he will not talk about. He left here as my 18 year old brother, he came back a stranger.
The brother that left died in Vietnam, the Marines sent me back a resemblence to him, but not him. That war changed him, and our family forever.
How sad, Celeste. So many stories just like your family's.
Many many ... too many ... similar stories.
Dave, he is FINALLY finishing college at age 56! (He left a NY State Regents Scholarship behind when he enlisted.) He always wanted to be a pilot, which was probably accounts for his choice of the Air Force, but couldn't see well enough. So he was VERY VERY good at his job as Chinese and other Asian language spy, got to fly all the time just not as a pilot. He has some horrific stories (which he's at least talking about) but some fun stories too (The World's Longest Softball Game, in the Guinness Book of World Records). His psycho-EX-wife was bad, coming home to people calling him baby-killer was bad, not being able to finish school was bad. (Having to bring up my 2 little girls is taking its toll too!) But I think we're all on the right track now, more or less. Thanks for asking, Dave. Some stuff he'll never get over. xx, c
It's sad how much wars change people. I wish there was more psychological help for all soldiers and veterans. Even if they need help years later. Many times things lay just beneath the surface and something triggers a problem much later.
My cousin enlisted in the army and has been over in Iraq since January. He is coming home for 18 days. Then it's back to Iraq. We aren't sure when to expect him because he's not sure of his transportation home. apparently the army doesn't provide this automatically when they are finally granted leave, they have to find a way home themselves. At least the 18 days doesn't start until he reaches Atlanta GA. We are hoping he makes it for Thanksgiving. One of my biggest fears before he left was with everything he will see how it may change him. Before he left he was one of the most giving, outgoing people I know, always smiling. I'm hoping that hasn't changed.
Sad to say, Sue, I'm sure it will have. Yikes. x, Carrie
Sue - best wishes for him and please thank him for me.
Sue, I hope he is fine. Good luck.
I wish the wars never started to begin with - then neither soldiers nor civilians need suffer. But I suppose there are circumstances in which people go to war because they do not have any other alternative to correct an even greater evil. WWII is an example of that.
In any case, American military do not cause wars - the members of the armed forces serve at the behest of politicians and the American people.
I think we all understand that Michaela. Unfortunately,some of the the adolescents that were revolting (pun intended) during Viet Nam did not.
We just don't all agree on which is the best way to support our troops.
If only it were limited to 'adolescents', Dave.
They were adolescents at any age.
You might say that, but that implies a 'foolishness of inexperience' kind of thing. 'They didn't know any better'. I don't believe that.
I think we better go off line if you want to pursue this.
'Wanna take this outside?' Hee hee.
Or we will end up outside!