Thursday, November 11, 2004

Veteran's Day

We've got people at the sharp end fighting the bad guys- and winning- while flags fly over the graves of those who died doing it, or after years of physical or mental handicaps from the terrible doings of battle.

If you're religeous, say a prayer for those out there now, and for the repose of those who died. If you're not, give due respect and honor to them.

I had two great-uncles who went through WWII, one in the Navy as a diver in the Pacific, the other in 3rd Army Infantry, from somewhere in France through to the end. The Navy uncle died a year ago, the Army uncle was recently treated for cancer and seems to be doing well. In all the times I was around them over the years, I never heard either of them speak of those days, with two exceptions.
The Navy uncle, when Clinton was making noises about invading Iraq and looking stunned when people he expected to support him asked hard questions, talked a little bit about his tour of Pacific vacation spots like Iwo Jima and Tarawa and about dead Marines in the water and on the beaches.
The Army uncle spoke a bit about a couple of souvineers he has hanging on the wall; nothing about the fighting, just some bits about those things. They went to do a dirty job, survived, and as much as possible put it behind them while building their lives here.

To those who made it back and to those who did not, and to those out there now, thank you.

Note: I think it fitting in a way that Yassir Arafat, that murderous dirtbag, finally and officially kicked the bucket today. As someone wrote, I'll pray for his soul with all the honest fervor of a French diplomat.

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