Thank a Veteran

There has never been a time when we should not honor the service of our men and women who have served our country. I am especially sensitive to this because I am a proud Navy Dad.

Does he face threats? All who serve face threats, whether the threat comes from a lone gunman or a drunk driver on land or an accident at sea. Is he safer than people his age serving in Iraq and Afghanistan? Absolutely, he is.

We may have disagreed over the policy or political decisions that resulted in our men and women in uniform being sent into harm’s way. We should never mistake policy for our honor of the men and women called to serve.

I am fortunate to know many who served in World War II and Korea. Among the people I know from World War II are someone who flew with the Flying Tigers and then off American aircraft carriers after Pearl Harbor, someone who drove landing craft to dislodge the Japanese from the Aleutians and a medic attached to the Sea Bees in the South Pacific. Among the Korean Conflict veterans are my own father, someone who stepped on a mine and a veteran of the Chosin Reservoir.

More plentiful are veterans of Viet Nam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq. Veterans of the Cold War are plentiful.