Honor our bravve veterans

　
With all the chatter our county and state elections stirred up this week, it will be all too easy to let next Wednesday pass as just another day off. It’s not. It’s the nation’s special tribute that is Veterans Day
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It brings to mind something I read recently: “Veterans know that our great country is protected, not by politicians, but by the young men and women in the military serving our country...So support our troops and their families. Please remember that there are literally thousands of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen far from home wishing they could be with their families....We live in the land of the free, only because of the brave.”--adapted from a tract on the Internet.

As time goes on, however, there are fewer and fewer brave veterans for us to honor. That’s because nobody gets drafted anymore, a draft that first fueled the vast military machine to defeat Germany and Japan. World War II veterans are indeed elderly now and without many of their buddies who have gone on to greater glory.

In that total war, America produced, not only millions of war fighters but also tremendous firepower, for example nearly 13,000 of our famous bombers, the B-17 Flying Fortress. I saw one on special display at the Stafford airport. Too bad most of you weren’t there to appreciate how the aircraft’s crews operated so heroically in such tight quarters to help destroy Germany’s Third Reich.

My presence there was mainly to honor my brother-in-law who had piloted one of those B-17s, and been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bringing his shot-up craft to a safe crash-landing back in England. Rufus Grisham and my sister still enjoy life in Lubbock, Texas.

Again a personal note: James Bryant, my grandson-in-law and a Sergeant now serving in Korea, had also seen combat duty in Iraq as an expert rifleman in a unit that won special commendation.

Like others of today’s heroes, his patriotic mates are fewer in number but all the more to be honored for having volunteered to fight for our country.

My personal Veterans Day tribute must also recognize friends and neighbors here in Stafford. A partial list would include Aquia’s Joe Duffey, a lifelong native of Stafford, who manned a minesweeper in the Pacific.

When the Japanese were about to give up an island, they would mine the waters nearby and thus stall our ships’ supplies to our troops. Joe helped clear those shipping lanes.

I also want to again mention Frank Lewis, the regular cartoonist for our Stafford County Sun, although he‘s pushing 90. :Frank had engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the Philippines to help free Manila of Japanese control. Much later, with the U.S. special forces, he helped train and lead Montagnard tribesmen against the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese along the Cambodian border. A diminutive guy, and shy--you’d never guess the extent of his valor.

Also, forgive me, Joe Spagnoli, Frank Withrow and Bernie Wise. I’ve run out of room to again acknowledge your and other friends’ World War II exploits.

Finally, do this: Click on this site for “Here’s to the Heroes,” by Ten Tenors. Awesome.
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL-0mdEg0U4&feature=related"