This is a picture of my father in Korea, 1958. I have pictures of him in uniform, all spic and span and looking every bit as proud as he felt wearing his U.S. Army uniform . This photo just struck me though. War is dirty, bloody, bone- wearying, lonely, scary, and even tedious. There is always the practical aspect of war...when not in battle the equipment needs to be taken care of, repaired, serviced. Battle, or warfare is noisy, bloody, scary...I am sure anyone who has fought in a war has much more they could say about war, but most veterans I know , including my father , father-in-law, son , brother-in-law ,nephews , friends, choose not to talk about it much. "We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."Cynthia Ozick
One of the rare discussions I once had with my father about war has always stuck with me. My father did two tours of duty in Korea, and two tours of duty in Vietnam. He said when he held a dying man in his arms he could see the life leaving , and the spark of life was in his eyes, and then it was not. "In war there are no unwounded soldiers." Jose' Narosky
This is my son David , reading a local newspaper I sent him. He is shown here in Iraq in the first of his two tours there, with his U.S.M.C. tank crew. They got mighty dirty and tired. Not too much boredom though, things were pretty lively for them ( unfortunately). Since our son was very little he desired a military career. I always marveled at this though because as a little boy he once commented.."Mom, the soldiers on one side are fighting for their country, and the soldiers on the other side are fighting for theirs'...each one thinks they are right.."The most persistent sound which reverberates through men's history is the beating of war drums." A. Koestler
We were talking on the phone 2 days ago and he told me he could sleep anywhere when he was tired. He said he slept through mortars and fire-fights. One night he was dreaming he was home with us and in his dream I was in the kitchen cooking and complaining of the mortaring going on around the house. Then one of his fellow Marines came in, a little bloody ( nothing serious) and woke him up because they WERE under fire! "Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul." Michel de Montaigne
There is so much I would, or could say..and so much more I cannot begin to know or understand enough to say well. There is so much to cry about, and pray about, and be angry about..but today I want to say THANK-YOU!
To all of you veterans of all wars, thank-you for your service and sacrifice."Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." G.K. Chesterton
"When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? " George Canning
18 comments:
Good Morning Kathy, Great posts about your family and Veteran's everywhere. Like you father, my dad never spoke of war. It's only now that I am older that I truly understand the sacrifice and toll that war takes on all our men and women. God bless them.
This is a well written post, Kathy. Very nice tribute to those who have served and all that they do.
A very special thank you to your family. The sacrifices are greater than we can know.
This is a wonderful tribute Kathy! We all need to be very thankful for our military service.
My father is on my mind today. He also did several tours of Korea and Viet Nam.
Thank you to those that have, and are, serving.
Thank you to those that are, and have, protected us!
I'm from a military family and my DH served in Vietnam - we know well the sacrifices of soldiers, sailors, marines and coast guard - and the families who love and support them. After the events last week here in Texas - at the very base DH did his training - there is a sadness in our honor to Veteran's Day. Wonderfully written Kathy and bless your family for their service.
Excellent post for today and everyday. Thanks Kathy.
Dear Kathy,
What a wonderful and well written post about our brave men and women in uniform. Love the family photos too.
You are so right, there are no words to begin to express our enormous gratitude to those who have served and are serving at this moment.
May God Bless them and Keep them and May God Bless America.
Hugs to you,
Lynn♥
~Let FREEDOM Ring!~
Thanks for sharing about the people in your family that served our country.
Mildred mentioned to me that your father served in Korea. My Dad was there too, but after the war in the early 60's.
Thank you for sharing pictures of your family! You bring up some good points that I never thought of.
Your Dad was a hero for sure...we must never forget how precious our freedom is!
What a moving tribute to the men of your family and those of others. This was very nicely done. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
This post was well done! A lot to put into the words. Enjoyed reading it and seeing the photos. Very grateful to have had all of our family members survive the wars and come home. On a lighter note: David also asked as a boy " When soldiers are in the middle of battle what do they do when they have to go the bathroom? Do they yell 'time out?' " =)
That was a beautiful tribute to your family and to all of our Veterans!
I don't think there are any families untouched by war, or that do not have at least one veteran to thank.
LindaSue, I was thinking of your state and our nation's loss of men and women right there, where they should have been safe from such an attack. I am even more shocked to hear on the news about the killer and why in the world was he not kicked out of the army a long time ago! What a disgrace that such a man was allowed to roam free among the very people he hated, and with a "religious cause " to fuel his actions....I am hoping "political correctness" had nothing to do with this...and am so sad for the victims and their families.
A.Joy, that is soooo David! His sense of humor has certainly helped him a lot and he is pretty good at making people laugh in spite of circumstance.I am happy to see a bit more of his humor returning.
Kathy, I picked up right away on your comments regarding instant communication. It can definitely be a con in the circumstances. God bless.
My dad was in Korea in 51 and 52. He was a young 18 year old boy who had never been away from home, or on an airplane. I've read some of his letters he wrote to my grandparents and they are full of questions about crops and cows, and his younger brother and two younger sisters. They are very innocent and sweet. He has passed away now and your post reminded me of him. Thank you and to all those veterans in your family.
And we thank him for his service. My father was in the South Pacific in WWII. I thought of him yesterday as well, he served in the Army Air Force as a radioman.
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