HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

[MikeandBarb]

WANT TO WISH ALL VETERANS A VERY HAPPY VETERANS DAY! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AND BRAVERY INCLUDING MY HUSBAND, MIKE.... BARB

[RailroadMike]

Thank You!!!.....From another Vet...USAF Retired

[LonnieB]

The United States of America has been a free country for a little over 230 years. During this time there have been numerous conflicts, both internally, and with other countries. Most of our internal conflicts have been caused by our involvement in the affairs of other countries, involvement that came about because the leaders of our country felt it necessary for our continued freedom, growth and independence. Throughout the entire 230 plus years there has been a group of people, men and women, that have been both honored, and scorned. They are called Veterans. It's because of these people, we can all wake up every morning knowing we have the freedom to persue life any way we choose.

THANK YOU VETERANS! Each and every one of you.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

[indy roadrunner]

Thank you from another proud vet
US Army Aviation 1963 to 1966

[ken]

Guys and Gals Thank You.........US Army Retired

[Parrothead]

Well said Lonnie. Thank you to all the Veterans for keeping this country's best asset - Freedom. Thank You, Daddy (Lt. Col. - North Africa and Italy)
Happy trails.................. (from an Army brat)

[Searchers]

As the proud parents of a son and daughter-in-law that decided to make the USAF their career Claudia and I salute all Veterans and their families for the sacrifices they've made to protect us and our freedom.

Our son left his current duty station in Okinawa this morning for briefing sessions here in the US over the next few weeks and on to his third deployment in Iraq.

May God bless and protect you all!

[toolmanroy]

Also to the parents like you, Don and Claudia, for raising such fine young men. That is no small task these days.

Sue, my father was also in Italy and North Africa in WWII, but as a sargent in the Army Air Corps.

Roy was in the AF in the '60's but fortunately only got as close to Vietnam as Taiwan and Japan.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL
from an Army Vet June 60 to August 66

And a VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to all the VETS

WHAT IS A VET?


Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a Jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel:

The soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. So, what is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She or he is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say "Thank You". That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
~ ~ ~Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC

[richfaa]

I am one of them Sgt US Army.Don't think about it much,just something we did once upon a time. Remember as a kid going to a cemetery on the North side Of Pittsburgh, Pa on Memorial day with my uncle Ernie who enlisted December 8Th 1942 and fought across Europe.He was in the same Division as the "Band Of Brothers" A bunch of vets would place flags on row after row of graves. My Cousin David and I would help. We asked if he too was a hero and he replied no I just did my duty..these guys under the flags are the hero's. At the end of the Tv serial 'Band of brothers" remember the duologue..Grandpa..where you a hero in the War.... No, I wasn't but I served with a company of them.. My Uncle had said that over 50 years ago. Uncle Ernie told these two little guys that we shoud never forget. Uncle Ernie is long gone . This guy flies the flag from Memorial day to labor day every year.Thanks Vets and thanks Uncle Ernie.