Every Veteran's Day, my Heart Swells with pride regarding all of my favorite veterans. It's some kind of serendipity that "Week 45" is for war and peace, as 1945 was the year that both of my grandfathers began their peacetime lives, after several years of war.
My ancestors "served" in the Indian wars that marked the colonialism of this continent. One is lauded on a memorial at the Battle of Point Pleasant, which frankly I wish that they'd reinscribe with the names of the indigenous individuals that were slaughtered for their land. While most of my more recent ancestors served on the side of the Union, Benjamin Everett Pearson, previously recorded, served on the side of the Lost Cause. I do wonder where his perspectives might lie today.
There were a few distant cousins that served during the Great War, mostly adult cousins of my Grams Hazel Greenwell Chamberlain from Missouri, and one of my grandfather's relatives from Wisconsin who was killed in France.
My Grandfathers were good yet complicated men, as most humans are.
My Irish Grandfather (Army and Army Air Corp) tried to enlist in the Wisconsin National guard at 17, but his mother sent word that he was underage and he was sent home, only to reenlist when he came of age. He did many trainings in the south and in Wisconsin and South Dakota, later being sent to England where he participated in the rescue of civilians at the Freckleton Air Disaster, and towed gliders during the D-Day operations. Later, in days that he rarely mentioned, and then only if asked, he served as guard detail for the higher command as they inspected the liberated camps. One of his photos, a large pile of shoes in Dachau. Grandpa's brother Jim was also in Europe, and their sister, Aunt Sally, served later and worked for a time at the Pentagon.
My Iowa grandfather (Army) enlisted after Pearl Harbor and was stationed briefly in North Carolina with his brother Jack prior to being sent to England for a time, then departed by ship across the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy several days into the D-Day operation. He watched as the ship on the approach next to his hit a mine and exploded, as far as he knew killing all aboard. The men he served with made it across France and into Germany and were within a day or two of Berlin when Allied victory was declared.
During Vietnam, my dad and later my mom both enlisted in the U.S Air Force. Their gorgeous engagement photo shows them both in their dress uniforms (They were very young, and divorced when I was 6). Neither of them served overseas, Mom because she married and was soon pregnant with me, and Dad because he had minor health issues that likely would no longer affect his service as they did then, although he lost many friends who were sent. My mom's brother followed Grandpa in the Wisconsin Air National Guard, and my dad's sister married a serviceman, living in Germany long enough for my cousin to be born there.
Later I married my husband, who served 22 years honorably in both the Army, later transferring to the Air National Guard. He is an Iraqi Vet (2006-07). Through the decades of his service, it's not a small thing to say that although I don't qualify on paper, I too have served in my own way, as have oour children. I will never forget the way our daughter saluted him as he departed down the jetway.
There are so many others. My husband's brother, USMC. My husband's uncles and one grandfather, my cousin Pat. Please know that if you are a veteran and are reading this, you are appreciated.
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