Thank you Veterans. We wouldn't be here without you.
If my Dad hadn't made it back from the War, I wouldn't be here.
Thanks Dad.
And thanks to Drew, my namesake, who in his early 20's died in 1943 hauling oil in tankers up and down the Eastern Seaboard, always
on the lookout for German submarines. Drew was in the Merchant Marine, I believe he was an oiler in the engine room.
Died of a brain disease, something totally out of left field. Thankfully I've lasted a bit longer...
My Uncle got his own Destroyer after the War, I think he was XO on another one in the South Pacific, got strafed, the whole nine yards.
Would never ever talk about it. My Father was Air Force Intelligence and he for sure never talked about what he did either.
so not a lot of family tales, sometimes talking about it relives some really incredibly bad times, things one would like to forget.
Just watch Saving Private Ryan's D Day footage, I almost can't watch it. The savagery of an experience like that has to stick with you for
the rest of your life. Same thing with Vietnam, likely all wars. I'm sure clearing houses in Iraq was pretty frightening too.
My first wife's Father flew bombers over Germany, those raids where a third of the planes were shot down in a mission.
Talk about frightening...and he didn't talk about them either.
The stuff of nightmares.
Some day maybe we won't need Veterans. We will figure out a way to get along without shooting each other.
Until then, God Bless our Veterans. Thank you for putting it all on the line.
Thank you for protecting all of us and our freedoms.
