There's a lot happening in our little town today. Services at the Court House at the War Memorial, an old fashioned picnic, guest speakers, a fighter jet fly over and fireworks.
We take the honoring of our Veterans seriously.
As far as my mother and father's families go, there has been at least one person in each of the major wars. There could have been someone in the War of 1812 and the Spanish American War, but I don't know if any.
Starting with the American Revolution, we can trace back to three different men.
There was someone in the Texas War of Independence.
I'm not sure anyone fought in the Civil War, but I know family left the South not wanting to have anything to do with it.
My great-uncle faked either an eye or hearing test to get into the military during World War I. He may have lied about his age too.
My father, his two brothers and one of my mother's brothers all served during World War II.
Dad and his brother's were in the Navy. One night Dad's mother, Nana, woke up yelling, "Jump Emerson! Jump!" She later found out the ship he was on in the Pacific had been torpedoed. My uncle survived.
My mother's brother, Uncle Ralf, was a Marine in the Pacific. He survived one of those Japanese suicide missions, when a Japanese prisoner sprayed everyone with machine gun fire.
My mother's cousin Jack was in the Korean War.
My Cousin John-John was a Marine Sergeant in Vietnam. He was nearly killed when a land-mine exploded near him. (It wasn't the first time he'd been wounded.) I could give you the horrible gory details of his injuries, but I won't. Suffice it to say they got him to a hospital 20 minutes later and managed to save his life. After many operations and a year in and out of hospitals, you can't tell that his forehead was blown away. He is married, has children, is an engineer and has held a good job all these years.
Another cousin served in the Navy during Vietnam too.
John-John's wife served during Desert Storm.
I don't know if there's anyone currently in Military. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was some second cousin somewhere who is.
Are there Veterans in your family? Even if there aren't, this is the day to remember them all. They are the back-bone of our country.