Buried a Vet, my Dad

[aleekat]

Buried my Dad 2 weeks ago. Vet of WW2, Korea, Vietnam. He ask to be buried in his uniform. Ret. SGM, Armor. I'm a vet myself, 79-01, Army aviator. I knew it would be tough, but when they played Taps, I lost it. God rest his soul.

[1-2man]

May he Rest In Peace. You should be very proud.

[.40 caliber]

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[DriBak]

RIP, TAPS and the Nat'l Anthem get me everytime

[pt945]

http://ct.pbase.com/v3/46/585746/4/48385507.IMG_9312a.jpg


God bless you and your family and thank you and your family for your service to our great country

[DGRABQ]

My dad is a WWII Vet. He is in good health, but I have been thinking a lot about this issue. If I am lucky, I will precede him... but if not my day is yet to come.

I wore an Army uniform to the funeral of my grandfather at a National Cemetery in Minnesota. He was a Veteran of WWI. I was an active duty Army captain at the time.

Those who fought for our freedoms before us are truly great men. Most will tell you that they signed up for patriotism, but fought for their brothers and friends. God, motherhood and apple pie must get a little hazy in the heat of battle, but their buddies to the right and left of them are very real... as is the enemy shooting at them.

I often find myself bemoaning the state of democracy or the economy, or the situation with Social Security or the cost of medical care in the past and in the future. When I do, I find myself thinking that those who have come before me got a pretty good deal with various programs that I am now paying for. This line of thinking invariably turns full course when I think that our fathers 'earned it'. Those who lived throught the Great Depression sacrificed a lot, and many who fought in the WWs, Korea and Vietnam paid the ultimate price. When I think of the issues in these terms, I say "Good for them, they deserved those programs and more". Although I served in the Vietnam era, I entered as we were leaving Vietnam. I never fought that fight, but was one of the few Americans of my time who appreciated those who did. I have stood at the Vietnam Memorial wall a number of times humbled by the thousands of names of men who died there... much the same way I have been humbled standing in the Punchbowl in Hawaii looking at the name of those killed in Pacific wars, and standing over the wreck of the Arizona watching oil still rising from her hull.

Nope. It is clear that our fathers and their fathers deserved any of the breaks national social programs might have sent their way. They earned them, and although I stood ready for 20 years and served my country in peacetime, I did not; at least not the same way they did.

Our fathers are great men. When each dies, we lose a bit of that earned freedom and the appreciation of the cost of it.
Each year, as fewer in Congress and the Executive Office have served in our military services, and as those who have fought in U.S. wars and lived to tell about it die, we move one step closer to being condemned to relearn the lessons of history.

I am sorry for your loss, but in a way, your loss is all of our loss. We know that nobody lives forever, but I fear that humans are a fickle bunch, and will be forced to relearn the lessons ouir fathers have learned for us; lessons we don't fully understand.

History has many examples of this. Too bad we aren't smart enough to learn from history. The Gettysburg address speaks of this, but how many in America have even heard of it anymore? How many can recite it word for word?

Great men... whose strong backs and perserverance have given us the opportunities we take for granted. Great men, our fathers.... Great men.