Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

For those of you outside the United States, Memorial Day is the day in the United States we honor soldiers who have passed away.

I miss my grandfather so much. He passed away in 1990. Long time readers have seen my summary of my grandfather. I posted his story on Memorial Day a couple of years ago. I’ve increased my subscriber base by quite a few since then.

Please indulge me. I’d like to keep his story alive and not have him fade into the shadows of history like so many other war heroes do.

My grandfather ran away from home at age 15, lied about his age, and joined the Navy. Six months after his 15^th birthday, he had been wounded in combat in Nicaragua.

He won a Navy Cross in 1939 as a diver on the first-ever submarine rescue of the USS Squalus off the coast of New Hampshire.

He would go on to win two more Navy Crosses for heroism in wartime during World War II. He was also a Pacific Fleet boxing champion.

For those of you who do not know, the Navy Cross is the second-highest decoration you can win in the United States Navy. The highest is the Congressional Medal of Honor. Winning one Navy Cross is a tremendous achievement.

After WWII, my grandfather planned and participated in the Inchon landings during the Korean War.

After earning a battlefield commission, he was forced to retire at the rank of Commander after he broke the jaw of an Admiral in a barroom brawl.

Naturally my military buddies and I wanted to hear all his war stories. We would try to get him to talk about it for hours.

Mostly he didn’t want to talk about it. He would either say

‘As for war, I’m agin’ it’ or

‘You can take all your Navy Crosses down to the American Legion (miliary veteran bar) and they still charge you a dollar for a beer.’

$1 for a beer tells you how long ago it’s been since he was alive.

The veterans who come to our assisted living homes seem to echo that sentiment. They’ve seen the ravages of war. And they want to never have it happen again.

On this Veteran’s Day we celebrate in the United States, please pray for those veterans who have lost their life in service to our country. If you live in another country, pray for your veterans.

More importantly, please pray for an end to war so we don’t have to pray for new veteran’s being added to the list.