Each year in November the commemoration of Veterans Day gives us a time to stop and pause to remember and honor the sacrifices of those who have served in our armed forces. And what could be more appropriate than to read and reflect on excerpts from the following article “What is a Vet?” by a veteran, Father Denis Edward O’Brien. (I found the article among papers saved by my late husband Ed. Both he and Father O’Brien served in the U. S. Marine Corps in the South Pacific in WWII.)
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service, a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye, a piece of shrapnel in the leg—or perhaps another sort of inner steel: The soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking. So what is a vet?
- He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.
- She or he is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang
- He is the POW who went away one person and came back another—or didn’t come back at all.
- He is the three anonymous heroes in the Tomb of the Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deeps
- He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket—palsied now and aggravatingly slow—who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when nightmares come.
- They are ordinary and yet extraordinary human beings—individuals who offered some of their most vital years in the service of their country, and who sacrificed their ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice their own.
So remember each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say “Thank You.”
As we remember veterans no longer with us with gratitude in our hearts and reach out to thank veterans still in our lives, we commemorate this Veterans Day with a special, heartfelt thanks to all veterans in our Beatitudes Campus community. Thank you for your service, indeed!
