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OH HOW THEY HONOR
I am on the memorial team of VFW Post 8896 East
Berlin, Pa.On memorial Weekend we do 17 or so services...parades and 21gun salutes.It is truly a rewarding experience
for us all.This year my two sons Bob and Nick came along with us...my other son Todd took the pictures and my youngest girl
Elizabeth kept us feed and free of thrist.It just doesn't get much better then that my friends.I could not be more proud...
We begin on Thursday night with our meeting
and final prep work...then we go from Friday till Monday at noon.There is not much time to be with family other then sleeping
and getting ready for the next day.
There are about thirty three of us from
WWII thru to Iraq...None of us mind giving up our time to honor our fallen comrades from all wars...in fact we all look forward
to it.
All of us on the team have lost some one in one war or another...We remember them and honor the scrafice
they gave for the love of their Flag and Country.
We all have our memories...our ghosts and our
demons but the comradship felt that weekend seems to soothe the hurt we feel...
On Sunday we do a service and parade at
10 am and then set up a base camp(an old picnic building that the church in the town let's us use)...all the women bring different
dishes...we get about 50 BBQ chickens and after eating play some poker or just sit a talk and remember...
At 2pm we saddle up and head down the road to another
service...when that one is over we return to our base camp...relax some more and continue our poker till the next service..
| "Here we go again...Marching down the avenue |
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| three more days and well be thru....I'll be glad and so will you |
One of the most important things we do
that weekend I think is impress the young...my family and others in on the team grew up with this God Mother and Country that
we believe in...but the young that really don't know much about the weekend see us out there...some to old to march...others
to sick from war related chemicals and such to stand...
But here we are...breathing hard after
a march...legs feel like rubber at times...each year the guys say,"this is my last year"..."After 42 years of this I think
I'll stop after this"..."I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this"...but yet come the next year there we are again
and saying they same things...it's great my friend...just great.
We do this for those who can not...for
the buddies who died in our arms...the childhood friends we went to school with that is no more...the brave men and women
from around this great nation that paid the final price for freedom and a way of life like no other in the world...
THE NAM VET
WHEN
THE LORD was creating Vietnam Veterans...
He was into His 6th day of overtime when an angel appeared...
"You're certainly doing a lot of
fiddling around on this one..."
And God said:
Have you seen the specs on this order? A Nam Vet has to be
able to run 5 miles through the bush with a full pack on, endure with barely any sleep for days, enter tunnels where his higher-ups
wouldn't consider going, and keep his weapons clean and operable. He has to be able to sit in his hole all night during an
attack, hold his buddies as they die, walk Point in unfamiliar territory known to be VC-infested, and somehow keep his senses
alert for danger. He has to be in top physical condition, existing on C-rats and very little rest. And he has to have 6 pairs
of hands..."
The angel shook his head slowly and said:
"6 pairs of hands??? No way!!!"
"It's not the hands that are causing Me problems ...
It's the 3 pairs of eyes a Nam Vet has to have..."
"That's on the standard model?"
Asked the angel.
The Lord nodded...
"One pair that
sees through elephant grass, another pair here in the side of his head for his buddies, another pair here in front that can
look reassuringly at his bleeding, fellow soldier and say:
YOU'LL MAKE IT!!!
When
he knows he won't..."
"Lord, rest, and work on this tomorrow..."
"I can't!!!"
Said
The Lord.
"I already have a model that can carry a wounded soldier 1,000 yards during a fire fight, calm the fears
of the latest FNG, and feed a family of 4 on a Grunt's paycheck..."
The angel walked around the
model and said:
"Can it think?"
"You bet!!!"
Said The Lord.
"It can quote much of the UCMJ,
recite all its General Orders, and engage in a Search and Destroy Mission in less time than it takes for his fellow Americans
back home, to discuss the morality of The War, and still keep his sense of humor. This Nam Vet also has phenomenal personal
control. He can deal with Ambushes from Hell, comfort a fallen soldier's family, and then read in his hometown paper about
how Nam Vets are baby killers, psychos, addicts, killers of innocent civilians..."
Then The Lord gazed into The Future
and said: "He will also endure being vilified and spit on when he returns home, rejected and crucified by the very ones he
fought for..."
Finally, the angel slowly ran his finger across the Vet's cheek, and said:
"There's
a leak...I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model..."
"That's not a leak!!!"
Said
The Lord.
"That's a tear..."
"What's the tear for?"
Asked
the angel.
"It's for bottled up emotions, for holding fallen soldiers as they die, for commitment to that special
piece of cloth called: The American Flag, for the terror of living with PTSD for decades after the war, along with it's demons,
with no one to care or help..."
"You're a genius!!!"
Said the angel, casting a gaze at the
tear...
The Lord looked very somber, as if seeing down Eternity's distant shores...
"I DIDN'T PUT IT
THERE!!!"
He said...
God Bless Nam Vets!!!
Author
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