It is another Veterans Day and as usual I would like to remember my late father. He served in the India/Burma campaign during WWII. He was there for over 3 years and was awarded a Bronze Star. ( he is the second one from the left) He didn’t talk much about the war. He was not wounded but came back with multiple fungal diseases that took years to clear up. He received the Bronze Star for taking his crew behind enemy lines to repair an aircraft that had been forced to land because of mechanical problems, repairing it, clearing a runway long enough for it to take off again and then flying it out to safety.
I am a Vietnam era veteran on paper but I usually don’t consider myself a veteran. I spent two and a half years of the Vietnam war holding down a desk in Munich, Germany. I lived in an apartment and wore civilian clothes 90% of the time. My official military vehicle was a red Volkswagen Bug. Sometimes I feel guilty about this when I realize how many were suffering and dying in SE Asia while I was enjoying some of the best years of my life. So don’t give any thought to me today but think about those who really did sacrifice.
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