Soldiers go marching, old men remember

  Harry Miller in WW2

 

Canes, walkers, wheelchairs

 

Old men.

 Miller on the left

 

 

Harry was in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam

USMC

Army
Navy
Army Air Corp

Korean War
Vietnam war
Now, war in places unknown.

US Navy air craft carriers sending planes to fly off

Army Air Corp, carrying food, supplies,
and bombs—

Men and Women,
not on the front lines,
But at home, making survival
possible.

Gold embroidered

On black.
Proud to wear their caps.

Old men in caps.

Walking away,

Walking on ahead.

Oldest veteran of WW 2, Richard Overton, died at age 112 In December 2018

Lately, I see fewer WW 2 veterans, as most are in their nineties. When I do, I shake their hands and thank them for what they and their comrades did.

Now, the Korean vets are the old fellers. They still walk straight and tall. Shake their hands and thank them for their valor.

The Vietnam veterans are from my era. I thank them and ask how they are doing after their unappreciated service. We talk a while, share our memories of friends and families. 

My small county with the rural towns had many men who headed to Vietnam. Some returned, some returned but with scarred memories, and too many found their ways home in caskets.

Now veterans from this era come home and are welcomed by a grateful nation.  Too many come home with prosthetics and horrible scars. If you meet one, shake their hands, thank them for what they and their comrades sacrificed. 

Try not to cry.

 This was originally a re-post from 2013, now re-written.

My appreciation and understanding have grown. I have shaken many hands.

We live near Camp Pendleton.

Home

How many people are from our small towns (where people's names I know.) from 1966 - 1972?

the end of the war 2,970 men from the state of Illinois were either dead or missing. 

 

In our towns of Pittsfield, Griggsville, Pleasant Hill, Quincy, and others, 30 men+ died, fighting for our country.

 

In these local towns and their cemeteries where I grew up, with veterans from WW1 to Vietnam, these names are remembered and honored.