I'd like to offer a very heartfelt thank you to our Veterans today.
If you are on this board and served, please post so that we can say thank you for your service.
As Hokies, 'Ut Prosim' is much more than an empty motto.
Virginia Tech has provided many service men and women that exemplified this saying.
Standing on the platform under the Pylons on campus, overlooking the drill field, to me is one of my favorite places to absorb the spirit of Virginia Tech.
I have a special place in my heart for Veterans: my father was a Marine. I was born on base at Camp Lejeune while he was deployed in Vietnam. He was and is my hero. He gave me my first black eye (Never talk back to a Marine's wife, I learned...my mom. I deserved it.) His time in service changed him. He never spoke much at all about it...we would gather bits and pieces from rare comments. He had been through it, but even towards the his end, he would stand straight as he could at attention whenever the National Anthem was played. He wept when we visited the Vietnam Memorial...I had never seen him cry, ever. Turns out, the stuff about Camp Lejeune was true: we lost him to Parkinson's disease after his last fight.
Our service men and women have sacrificed a lot in their work for us.
Thank you to our Veterans.
Comments
My dad was a Navy vet, 20 years in, WWII and Korea. My mom was a vet in the Waves during WWII. I was born on the Naval Academy myself. Like your dad Shoog, my father seldom spoke about the war, but often about his shipmates on the North Carolina which was in almost every significant battle in the Pacific.
So, with all that Navy in my blood, I am an Army vet. Vietnam era, I served safely in a NATO HQ in Germany. I will admit to feeling less proud of my service than so many who served with distiction or in combat, but poor grades and a low draft number made my choices for me.
So to all the veterans here and around the nation, I also wish them a Happy Veteran's Day.
Ifish.....thank you for your service and to all the fellow veteran TKP'rs.
Army man here too, with a history of family members who served.
Instead of being "less proud", be fully proud you served. I have full respect for all who have served. I have full respect for you.
But, agree with you....there is a special place in my mind and heart for Combat Veterans. And, for those who gave their lives.....Words cannot begin to describe.
I also keep in mind, that the standing military is just as vital as Combat Veterans as they are at the ready when necessary to become Combat Veterans when duty calls who then put their lives on the line.
Thank you for your service and the commentary.
Thanks so much for the reply and your service.
This was what I was hoping for with the original post.
I knew there were heros lurking on this board and I don't see a difference regardless of the role.
And like most that I have met, and family members very few speak of their services.
(And I'll bet there are some awesome stories from your time serving in Germany)
Ah the tales I could tell...but won't. I worked in a Cosmic Top Secret Atomal vault with other NATO folk, had way too much freedom, couldn't wait to get back home, and haven't forgotten much about it since. And thank goodness for the GI Bill.
As a veteran.. and a dad.. and someone existing in these expensive times...
today is one of my favorite holidays because
I get the day off of work
I get a ton of free food
and
my kids had to go to school.
win-win-win.
yeah yeah, it was an honor to serve and all that, I was in the air force or something, y'all have heard it all before. happy veterans Day y'all 🫡
Thank you sir!
And enjoy your day ( and some quiet time, food etc.)
Started with free donuts at the Elementary school Veterans assembly (bonus as they haven't done that before) then to Wendy's for free breakfast combo. Lunch swinging by Texas Roadhouse for a meal voucher, then to Chick-fil-A for a sandwich. Dinner still debating between Olive Garden short menu or Red Robin Tavern Burger. Decided to forego the crazy that is Golden Corral buffet this year.
Seems to me you win the award for best Veteran's Day meal-a-thon. I gotta bone up on all those comps.
Snuck in four more around lunch so have lunches in the fridge for the rest of the week. Got a ten piece boneless wings with fries from Buffalo Wild Wings, got sandwich, chips and a drink from Firehouse subs, a Boston creme donut from Dunkin and Olive Garden let me take a meal to go when I asked. The first three were all in the same shopping center as Chick-fil-A so it was a no brainer. Olive Garden was next to my kids after school care so another easy button. Extra fridge is full.
Guy at dinner at Red Robin tipped me to getting a free Tropical Smoothie smoothie. Turns out Veterans also get 10% off year round there too.
Pretty similar to our day. Hit Wendy's for breakfast, then got meal vouchers from Texas Road House. We were going to hit up Red Robin, but it was a mad house, decided to call it a day.
Red Robin, definitely go with Red Robin.
Yes, thank you to my dad and all the other veterans out there. Today and every day.
I still have the letter from the War Department stating that my grandfather was too valuable to the war effort to enlist in WWII. He was designing and building the liberty ships.
Thanks to all the Veterans.
I have a different letter. My family got an apology letter from Mitsubishi Corporation for being party to my grandfather being used as slave labor in the mines as a POW after the Death March of Bataan.
I got a letter from the FBI correctly addressed to me, at my current rank, to the ship I was stationed on in Japan.
The letter was informing me I was in trouble for not registering for the draft. I replied with the date and location I registered for the draft and with whom I went, He was doing the same task. That since they knew my correct address and rank, they should also know that I would not be eligible for the draft, I would be subject to recall to active duty.
I got absolutely no reply.
3 guesses on why I absolutely abhor bureaucracy.
6 years. Navy. Far East and Persian Gulf.
My Dad was Korean War Era, USS Philippine Sea Helo Air Crew
Those that have passed:
Uncle, Marine, Vietnam Era
Uncle Army, Korea
Uncle Navy WWII Pacific
Uncle Army WWI and WWII Wounded in both wars, France, Pearl Harbor, Midway
A special Shout out to my shipmates that have become casualties after the fact. Especially Marve,
Thank you sir and special thanks for you and your shipmates.
I've also enjoyed your brewmaster commentary as a former homebrewer.
Thank you all for your service.
Shoog. Thanks for this thread. The stories of our fellow Veteran Hokies are a great read. We learn more about our community with these threads. An excellent distraction.
A special thank you to all of you and my recently passed father ( 31 yr Navy fighter and test pilot), my F18 pilot brother, and my F14 RIO brother.
I love and appreciate you all.
Apologize in advance for the length of this - a post I made nearly ten years ago(2015) on the TG support site I serve on as staff.( I have another I'll post around Memorial Day). The numbers mentioned here are obviously out of date-we have far fewer WW2 vets around now(just 119,000 or so and losing about 131 per day-the average age is 98)- so each is even more precious. I highly recommend a book called 'The Rifle" by Andrew Biggio- it is a collection of memories from WW@ vets interviewed by the author; the stories are amazingly detailed and illustrate the incredible heroism of so many vets.
Again apologize for the length but I thin it makes some god points.
The Sacrifice of the Few to Protect the Freedom of the Many
As Veterans Day in the US comes this Monday, November 11th, I wanted to write a brief post about the sacrifices our veterans (and those of all peace-loving nations) have made to protect their countries from those who would enslave or harm us. I WANTED it to be brief but found it impossible to be but SO brief so bear with me as it goes a little longer than I originally hoped.
I am the proud descendant of a career Air Force officer who served both enlisted and officer for over 21 years including serving in Vietnam in 1967-68. In addition my mother also served as enlisted and officer until leaving for the medical reasons –of having and raising seven children! Many think about the dangers of military service-the very real possibilities of death not only in combat but in routine training missions. It is a dangerous job! But that only tells half the story.
The other half is the sacrifice made by both the service-members AND their families. Military family life is exponentially more challenging than that most non-military families experience as the military family has all the normal challenges of relationships. But then on top of that are the frequent moves(in some cases like ours approximately every 18 months), the periods of Temporary Duty(TDY) that can run from several weeks to as much as 90-120 days(often with minimal notice) and of course the even greater separations when the service-member is deployed into combat zones. Not only does the spouse (I'll use "wife" but there are now cases where the husband is the non-military member) who's left behind has to take care of all the household business and the kids by herself, misses the intimacy of the marital relationship and –oh yeah- the possibility that her spouse might not ever return or might return with severe disabling injuries!
Society unfortunately does not compensate these warriors and their families enough for the sacrifices they make out of a sense of honor and duty. So I think it is incumbent upon each of us to at least take the minimal step of thanking any vets you see for their service and sacrifice and let them know they are NOT forgotten! WE have lost most of the vets who served in World War II due to old age and Korean vets will not be far behind. (See the article at the end of the post).
The other thing that would benefit them greatly is to contribute money (if you are financially able- or time if you can't afford to spend the money) to organizations that support vets and their families. An example that I want to start supporting with contributions is the Fisher House which provides FREE lodging to the families of vets who return to be treated in VA hospitals in the states for recovery and therapy. These families may spend months hundreds or thousands of miles from home to be with their injured spouse or child and the Fisher Houses allow them to stay on site at VA hospital campuses so they can support their relative as they recuperate. The site if you want more info is at https://www.fisherhouse.org/ A $10 donation covers the cost of providing lodging for one family for one night so even small donations make a difference. Of course there are other organizations that you can support-see the article for a link to a list of worthy causes.
I want to donate in memory of all the vets I have encountered in my life as family or friends. That already large group now includes all of the members here on the site who served proudly in the military. God bless them for making the sacrifices they did so I could live in a free society. I hope that each of you will thank a vet this Monday and if you can that you help by donating time or money to help the vets and their families. Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Veterans Day By the Numbers
Tom Purcell | Nov 09, 2015
"I had no idea that many men and women have served our country in our armed forces."
"Ah, yes, you refer to Veterans Day facts and figures shared by the U.S. Census Bureau. Did you know there are 19.3 million U.S. veterans living today? Roughly half are 65 and older. Nearly 2 million are under the age of 35."
"That's interesting stuff. Those older than 65 served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and the 2 million under 35 served mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan after 911?"
"You are correct. According to statistics released by the Department of Veterans Affairs, World War II vets are dying at a rate of approximately 492 a day. This means there are approximately only 855,070 veterans remaining of the 16 million who served our nation in World War II."
"The greatest generation!"
"My father served in the Korean War. He is 82. Of the 5.7 million who served during that war, 2 million veterans are still with us."
"What about the Vietnam War?"
"Of the 8.7 million veterans who served in that horrific war, 7 million are still alive. To round out the numbers, 5.5 million veterans served during the Gulf War era, which spans 1990 to the present. Roughly 4.4 million veterans served during peacetime. Other veterans had it awfully tough."
"How so?"
"Nearly 63,000 living veterans served during the Vietnam War and both periods of the Gulf War. They served from August 1990 through August 2001 and then from September 2001 and beyond."
"God bless them for their service."
"Some of our living veterans served through three wartime periods! Nearly 37,000 served during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War."
"Wow."
"The makeup of the armed services is changing as our demographics change. Though nearly 80 percent are 'non-Hispanic white,' nearly 12 percent are black, 6 percent are Hispanic, 1.5 percent are Asian and nearly 2.5 percent are Native Americans, Alaskans and Hawaiians."
"What about women who serve?"
"Those numbers are growing, too. There are currently 1.6 million female veterans in our country."
"We are lucky to still have these men and women with us and the purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all of those who have served. But what about the people who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country?"
"Did you know that nearly 1 million Americans have died for their country? Approximately 4,500 died during the American revolution."
"I did not know that. What about our bloody Civil War?"
"Bloody is the right word. Nearly 370,000 Union soldiers and 135,000 Confederate soldiers died during that war. We lost nearly 120,000 veterans in World War I and nearly 405,000 in World War II. The Korean War claimed 34,000 and the Vietnam War 48,000."
"Those are sobering numbers."
"If there is any silver lining as far as war goes, it is that our modern war-fighting techniques and medical technologies are resulting in fewer battlefield deaths. Of the 1.5 million who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have suffered approximately 6,500 losses. However, nearly 50,000 were wounded and many of them are still suffering from their disabilities."
"We need to do more to help our suffering veterans."
"That is exactly what Veterans Day is about. It is a special day when we honor all of those who have served. It is also a great day to give back."
"Give back?"
"We can volunteer at a local veterans' organization or provide financial support. CharityWatch.org has a list of legitimate organizations that provide help and resources to disabled veterans. I'm going to donate $50 now."
"Now that's the kind of Veterans Day number I prefer!"
(apologize if the #'s of war deaths in the article may be inaccurate- It was a direct paste of an article that inspired my post). Also another excellent organization I support now is stopsoldiersuicide.org .Can't think of a better cause.
Great post and thanks so much for the sobering numbers.
With your direction, I donated to Fisher House.
Great point about service members and their spouses.
My mom, who talked much more about her experiences as a Marine wife, told stories about how tight and supportive the community was on base, but how she received less than friendly reception to outright verbal abuse once she was off base. Different times, but sad. And to think she was raising us kids on a Marine salary while getting scarce little information on the well-being of her husband.
Tough people and that tradition carries on.
Thanks for taking the time to read it!
Yeah-mom and us kids were in NC while dad was in Vietnam. There were of course no phone calls or texts available then. My parents traded reel to reel tapes to keep in touch(along with letters of course) but those were very time-delayed. And when he returned, they decided to take an overseas posting in Germany rather than deal with the antiwar folks here in the states.
And echoing others, dad never talked to us at all about his time in Vietnam other than that he was in Saigon at Bien Hoa AB and was there for the TET offensive; even had home movie of the rocket attack on the base. He lost one of the men in his command which hit him hard. We kids didn't know til after he died that he had nightmares most nights. And that for the rest of his life, he constantly varied his routes to work etc. due to the worries of being in a pattern in Vietnam. He didn't volunteer to go to combat, but he didn't shirk his duty when assigned there either. I've never known a finer man who lived his life by embodying both Rudyard Kipling's "If" and Teddy Roosevelt's 'It's Not the Critic Who Counts". I miss him every day.
Mom, Dad, and Step-dad were all Army. I feel like I had a great childhood growing up on military bases, where I would disappear all day on my bike. They play the national anthem late, every afternoon as the base American flag is lowered. We learned at an early age to stop what you were doing, and face the flag (or the nearest loudspeaker), with your hand over your heart.
Turned in 20 in the Air Force, mostly as a C-17 driver. Carried anything and everything, including thousands of fellow soldiers, sailors, and marines to and from harms way. Always especially enjoyed landing at the army bases (posts) of my youth and finding my old houses.
Tons of world travel in the military will tell ya we've got it pretty good here in America, warts and all.
Thanks for all the support, TKPers.
Love this and would be great if it was done in the country at large in my opinion. Also, they played the national anthem before each movie showing in the base theater. Everyone stood and sang along.
One of the things I love at Lane is that MANY fans DO sing along to the anthem.
Reminds me of our movie theater on our tiny base in Germany, which played the anthem before every showing. The guy who ran the projector was short and told us all to make sure we were at the movies the night before he was flying home to muster out. He set the projector up and for the National Anthem, he chose Jimi Hendrix's version, put it on as loud as he could, locked the door to the projector room and took off. He had a ride to town arranged and hid out until his flight. Good thing, as the powers that be were after his head, but he slipped out of country unmolested. Darn draftee! This would have been 1972. Can't remember the movie, but a bunch of us were hootin' and hollerin' and enjoyed the pissed off NCOs.
That said, I do love to sing and always sing along with the anthem nowadays.
Love this story, legendary!
Next Vet's Day, maybe I'll tell the tale of how I myself was smuggled off the base for my flight home by a couple of complicit MP friends. Those pesky "powers that be" were going to hold me on base until I got a haircut. When I finally got home after similar efforts at Fort Dix by their "powers", my dad took one look at me and said "Damn son, I thought you'd been in the Army!" My goal was met, though, and when I got back to VT, I fit right in with the early '70s vibe.
My dad wrote a short piece about a time he was stationed in Germany in the mid 1950s-
It's nearly 10,000 words so likely to long to post here but if anyone would like to read it, you can email me at skippy1231 (at) verizon (dot) net. I promise it's well written and worth a read!
a brief excerpt/teaser below :
Late to this party but I'll add mine. Come from a decent line of vets.
Retired last year after 20 yrs in the Army. My dad served 27 years in the army. Served in Vietnam and The Gulf War. My dad's cousin was Marine at Khe Sahn. My paternal grandfather was in the Navy in WWII and was sunk once. My maternal grandfather was an engineer working on the Alaskan Highway and was denied going into the Army Air Corps to fly due to his work for the Hwy.
Thanks to all the others for their service though I always feel awkward when people tell me thank you.
Sorry to make you feel awkward, but a hearty thanks. That's quite the lineage.
And congrats on the retirement.
I hope it's been an enjoyable transition.