HOW WE SPENT MEMORIAL DAY

As usual, we spent little over an hour in tribute to the Veteran’s in our small community, the ones who are still alive, as well as the ones we remember from past celebrations. There were veterans from each service, Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard each carrying their division flags and wearing hats to be placed in the solemn empty chair ceremony.

We arrived early and I was sitting on the couch in the lobby with a good friend, when another friend stopped to chat. He was wearing his flight suit, which fit snuggly. I asked about any medals he might have, he said he had some, but could only wear them on his dress uniform which no longer fit. Next year, he vows to have lost weight. I should mention that he is a retired USAF Lt. Colonel and was the pilot for Vice-President Al Gore on Air Force 2.

And I’ll also tell of the only veteran of WW ll to attend. He was a private during that war and tomorrow is flying to Washington DC to be part of a tribute there.

One of the other flag carriers has three purple hearts from Viet Nam.

Each of the flag carriers has his own story.

Our emcee is a retired Naval Commander.

The gentleman singing a capella is a retired Fire Department Captain and one the First Responders in New York City.

You will also be interested in a young man we met. My friend’s granddaughter also sang and her boyfriend came along and he looked rather young.  Well, looks aren’t everything, that young man is a thirty-five year old psychiatrist and based at our Veteran’s Hospital.

As part of the tribute, we remembered the wheel chaired vet who died several years ago. He was a former POW and headed a local group of POW’s from our county.

After we all were given a flower to drop in an army Helmut placed on a chair, with army boots on the blanket under it, we proceeded past about twenty or so of the lined up veterans who attended, shook their hands, and thanked them for their service.