Veterans DAY!

Veterans Day is this Saturday, and I wanted to remind all of you to take some time and visit with a veteran! I have learned much about history, and why we are who we are as a nation, from spending time with precious veterans.

As a President of the American Legion Junior Auxiliary, POST 7, I am honored to serve these heroes and there are many opportunities for you to join me! Check out your Am Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, or find a Vet Hospital in your area.

Before I leave to get ready for my trip to participate in a Vet Day Parade, I would like to ask you to read my litle sister's essay entitled,
"When is the Right Time to Honor Our Heroes?"

"When is the Right Time to Honor Our Military Heroes?"
My granddad stormed Inchon under the leadership of General McArthur. My mom told me he suffered most of his life from wounds received when shrapnel hit him in the back. Shrapnel is jagged metal that flies off a grenade or other device when it explodes. Granddad had shrapnel pieces so deep they worked their way to the surface every few years causing him terrible pain. He now rests in Punchbowl Cemetery in Hawaii.
My granddad wasn’t the only soldier to live with war wounds. As a member of the American Legion Junior Auxiliary, I visit veterans on a regular basis. Almost every veteran I meet has wounds of one kind or another. Sometimes, the wound is visible, like the purple scar splashed across the face of Captain Len, a former WW2 pilot. He got that scar when his Spitfire was hit and he had to crash land.
Other war wounds are not so obvious. Former Marine, “Cowboy Carl” is a Viet Nam Special Forces veteran. Although he survived the attack on Dong Xai without physical wounds, this hero suffers from flashbacks. Every few weeks, he wakes up and thinks he is back in the heat of battle. He can’t keep a job and his wife left him.
Last week, I went to the mall. At the entrance was a scruffy looking man in a wheelchair trying to get around a WET FLOOR sign. A girl my age pushed past him and muttered, “Crazy old fart.” The wheelchair had dog-tags dangling from its handle. As I helped him in the door, I asked about them and he told me they were his best friend’s tags. He’d died in Desert Storm. The man told me his own legs had blown off when his tank hit a roadside mine.
All over America, soldiers live with the scars of battles fought so we may live freely. We should be as faithful and fervent in our honor of them as these men and women of valor were in battle. The right time to honor our heroes is every time we see a soldier in uniform, or in a wheelchair, or a scruffy guy with a cane wearing an old army jacket. There is never a time NOT to honor them! If it weren’t for these men and women, we wouldn’t have the freedom to honor them!
The right time to honor our heroes is now.