Reflection on Veterans’ Day

When my dad was 17, my grandmother signed papers permitting him to join the Marine Corps. Dad’s first unit was used to test the effects of Agent Orange and radiation. After my dad died, my grandmother told me what it was like to talk with her 20-year-old son as he wrestled with being a soldier and the horror of seeing his buddies “glow.”

My dad’s assignment in the Vietnam War (yes, I used the term war intentionally) was at headquarters receiving messages from units in the field. He was the old guy in the unit…the Sarge…the one with children and a wife at home. Many times, he was on the line with a soldier who then was blown into bits mid sentence. At other times he volunteered for dangerous missions. When the war was over, my dad’s life stayed busy between raising four children and navigating the demands of a classified job. When I was an older teen, the horrors of Vietnam started creeping into our lives. The effects of earlier testing on his unit made dad’s body fragile and he drank to wash the terror and pain away. At 53 my dad was buried in New Bern National Cemetery. I was 28, the same age my father was in Vietnam.

Today is Veteran’s Day. Today is not the day we debate the horrors of war. Today is not the day we arrogantly insist the wars we, as a country, enter are just. Today is not a day to demonize the politicians who provoke war or talk about the need to increase our defense budget. Today is a day to celebrate and remember the men and women who put their lives on the line for our nation.

My uncle died in WWII. My step dad was a WWII Vet. My dad was a Vet. My father-in- law was a Vet. My brother is a Vet. My best friend’s husband is a Vet. I have friends who are Vets. There are men and women I went to high school and middle school with who are Vets. My children have friends who are Vets. I have officiated funerals of Vets. I have said words at a graveside in a National Cemetery. I have visited with a man who was vicariously transported back to Pearl Harbor on 9/11. I have informed parents that their son was part of the military invasion. I have lived life with sole survivors of units and prayed without ceasing for sons, daughters, and grandchildren serving in harm’s way.

Today is Veterans’ Day and today we celebrate these veterans and many, many others. Today we celebrate selflessness. We celebrate courage. We celebrate determination and the audacity to follow orders. We celebrate what it means to lay down your life. We celebrate duty and honor and we gratefully remember lives given and lives lost.

May today’s celebration call us to remember and be thankful! Happy Veterans’ Day, Daddy!

Semper Fi (Oorah!),
Katrina