Our new $20 bill to mark the occasion ...



Dimitri

The best thanks I can give to those who served is to practice the rights they fought to keep within our grasp.
Thanks just doesn't seem enough - bless you all.

As a Veteran I would like to say to all veterans a big Thank You.
To my fellow Vietnam Veterans I would like to say welcome home. Would'nt it be nice to have had a wounded warrior program when we came home.
I don't know about some of you guys but we were advised not to wear our uniforms in public to go home, because of the anti-war protestors at the airport. I was lucky being wounded I got Air Force transportation to a hospital near my home. Then when I was discharged my folks came to take me home. but i digress, again I would like to say Welcome Home Brothers, amd Thank You.

Sort of related but...I saw the movie Memorial Day yesterday.

I blubbered up pretty good. The old vet reminds me of my old man, cept taller. Mine never spoke much of the war he was in- Korea. He waited til I was old enough to handle it. To see him tell, the 1000 yard stare, tearing up, then breaking down in my arms. I've never been but I've seen what is does. War is something you never shake, never get over and never forget.

Everyone alive should be made to see this. Too many dont know or forget I imagine.

When my brother and I were what my father figured we were old enough. He told us what he did in the war in the Pacific. He was in the Navy on a troop transport ship as a cook and twin 20mm gun (trigger man). He went from the Philippians to Tokyo Bay. Dropping and picking up Marines on the various islands. Shooting down Komokazes along the way. It wasn't pretty.

Grandad on mums side had a band and played for the troops as his eyesight wasnt up to active duty. Dad did the compulsory military training and loved it. winning a trophy on range day. he was first with rifle and secound with bren and his mate took honours the other way around. first cousin served on HMS Canterbury (the old girl).
I boarded with an old chap who signed up at 16 for the WW2 and was caught along with many others and was in POW camp next to Changi.... he would always be up before dawn as even in his twilight years the demons still haunted him...
This Kiwi will never forget and have a hard time with the forgiveness thing too.

Forgetting the attrocities of war is impossible but forgiving is an act of will. It is usually thought to be for the wrong-doer but forgiveness is for the person wronged. It is an act of will and not an emotional thing at all. When you forgive you relieve your ties to whatever wrong was done. It never is meant to relieve the wrong as it can't. The wrong was done but if you forgive it you no longer have to be a part of it - ven though you will always remember what happened. Like anger only affects the one who is angry, forgiveness only affects the person who was hurt. The person who did the hurting has to forgive themselves for it to affect them.

It is never an easy thing, it takes a strong person to "let go" and forgive but they are better for it in the long run.
I was never touched by war more than the loss of a couple of friends and a cousin who suffered from PTSD after serving in Nam but I have had my own trauma to deal with and I found a release from it through fogiving and finding my "power base" within me again. By the power of the Creator I became whole again.
I hope that all those who have been touched by trauma - whether by war or other event - find the peace they deserve by whatever means they can.
Practice forgiving yourself too - for those things that happen that you are not proud of, because being able to forgive youself will make it easier to forgive others. Both make you a better, happier, person.
May the Creator hold you in his loving hands and carry you when you cannot walk. May you be blessed with health to live life, the wealth of loving friends and family and the happiness that comes from being the best person you can.
(not just for veterans but for all of you)