In my most recent post on this solemn day, I implicitly promised that it would be my last one on the subject of Veterans and Veterans Day.
However, there have been such great comments and additional posts by those who either they or their fathers were part of “The Greatest Generation” and served in World War II, that I feel I have to add one more post—this one really only a link.
This morning, USA Today “just happened” to publish a great column on exactly this topic.
In “WWII vets still deserve our attention,” Drew Brees writes about his grandfather who served in one of World War II’s greatest battles and gives us some very valuable advice:
Thank them, too
These veterans are leaving us. Now in their 80s and 90s, they are dying at the rate of 797 a day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. I urge families to seek out these veterans. Thank them for their service. Ask them questions. Let your children listen.
They will learn about battles fought in Burmese jungles and on Italian hills. Hear of the heroism displayed on Normandy’s beaches and in submarines beneath the Pacific. And it wasn’t just the soldiers. Millions of American women streamed into the factories to build planes, tanks and ships so vital to our victory. These women symbolized the “we can do it” spirit of the home front.
Read more about this “Greatest Generation” here.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.