Veteran remembers service of family members
Happy Veterans Day! Yep, it’s here again. Our day to celebrate and be recognized for service to our country. In this neck of the woods, our deeds are recognized every day. How many times have you been thanked for your service this year?
Our service comes with not only personal sacrifice, but with support of our families and friends. They are carrying on with their lives with us in their thoughts while we are on duty in distant lands. The empty chair at the Thanksgiving table and unopened presents under the Christmas tree are silent reminders that we are missed. Our children search for us in the audience when they perform on stage. So many things we and they miss while we serve this great country.
This Veterans Day is special for me. Searching through a cedar chest of family papers, I found my grandfather’s Army discharge papers. They are dated 1915, which for those of you who have astute math skills is over 100 years ago. At first I was interested in seeing information about his service, then realized that the document was administered 100 years ago.
I have fond memories of him, as well as other family members. The last time I saw him was in 1968 while I was home on leave when stationed at Fort Belvoir, Va. Later that summer I got a call from my mother that he passed. Now both of my grandparents were gone. It closed a page of history for me and my family. To this day I miss them both.
Memories of my father and father-in-law linger on. Dad was an army sergeant stationed in the Philippines during WWII. He told stories of snipers strapped to the top of palm trees. The sniper would fire lethal rounds and kill those in his sights. Soldiers would return fire, but the only way to know if the sniper was killed was to keep shooting until he fell from the tree. The straps held him until they were severed by return fire.
My father-in-law was an army combat medic in Europe. I could not believe how many places he served. His DD-214 (discharge) was a treatise of the war in Italy and France. He told of a time when at a combat hospital he was tasked by a doctor to suture wounds because there were so many wounded and not enough doctors. He returned from the war and became an elementary teacher and principal, and remained silent of his adventures until I prodded him about his duty. I never knew how big his contribution was until after his death when I read his DD-214.
Each of us who served has our own experience no matter which war or job. We all have the military experience. We share comaraderie of service and are members of a special club that is not hard to join, but open only to those who serve. We honor commitment to duty, and know that we kept our solemn oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same...” Our promise is a lifetime commitment and we know that it is the cornerstone of patriotic citizenship.
As we celebrate this day, we attend ceremonies, have meals with our family, and are honored within the community. We have a day to tell war stories, which usually are met with eyes that glaze over, while we reminisce about those exciting times that can only be met with the military experience.
So, my friends and fellow veterans, while we celebrate this special day, please remember that there are thousands like us on duty right now, doing their duty to keep us safe and insuring our way of life. Colonel Jim Keene says it best in an article in the Press: “[we] pay tribute to all service members who have liberated the world and who have preserved America’s freedoms and our Constitution.” Kudos to them and their families for the service.
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Jack Evensizer is an Army veteran and a resident of Dalton Gardens.