Today, I honor my father, my husband, my uncles, my friends. They have all served proudly in the military, although if you say to most of them how proud you are, they will shyly demure and state that the real vets are those who have been injured/killed.
Growing up, I knew my dad had done his time in the military, but not in detail. Only after I married my husband, listening on one of their conversations did I find out he had been a drill sergeant (if you knew my dad, you would know how humorous this is). Not until last year did I learn that he actually qualifies as a veteran, since he was called back to duty during the last stages of Vetnam. I joked with him that this would have been very helpful to know when I was applying for scholarships, since so many exist for the children of vets. However, since he never had someone shoot directly at him, he does not consider himself a veteran and therefore did not feel that he or his family should benefit from these programs, his belief that there were others who more greatly deserved them.
The End
2 years ago
1 comment:
So true of that generation. My dad almost lost his thumb in Vietnam after Charlie tried to cut it off in hand to hand combat. They wanted to give him a purple heart...but he thought...'I still have my thumb...give it to someone who actually LOST a limb!' For him..taking it would have been an embarrassment and dishonor to those who REALLY suffered.
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