From Kent veteran Don DinAlpha XR:
A lady approached me in church before Veteran’s Day last year and asked if I thought that it was appropriate for her to stand when all the veterans were recognized who had served and gave themselves to their country.
My answer was, “Of course, if anyone stands it should be you.”
Mary, a little, 85-year-old lady, is the first person whom I look for to spend a moment of appreciation every Sunday through the year. I try vicariously to feel the emotions that she must have felt the moment that the Army chaplain arrived at her home to inform her of the loss of her son in Vietnam.
My U.S. Marine Corps sons recently completed five tours in Iraq between the two of them. I must confess the stress of that can absorb a life for a parent. I can’t begin to imagine the emotions if that military vehicle had pulled up to my door.
Our nation has set a day apart for the remembrance of those who fought for our freedom and have not come home.
I think that it is a wonderful thing that we spend one day remembering and be thankful for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, so that the rest of us can remain free.
We have parents in Kent whose loved ones didn’t come home. I can’t believe that their pain has ever gone away. Maybe we could cushion them a little by an appreciative hug or just thank you. If one is your neighbor, please do that for all of us.
I can’t begin to know how those feel, who have lost someone defending our freedom. I just know that when I go to the grocery store without fear of a bomb exploding it is because of their sacrifice. When I drive through Kent with normal safety that we all experience daily, it is because of a direct gift that they have given to each of us, by giving their lives.
They gave their comfort, they gave there hope for any future, and they gave to us all the life we experience daily.
We must remember. We must live for them – they paid for our success as Americans. We also must remember those loved ones whom they left behind. We owe them and their families so much.
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