sacrifice themselves on the basic principle that we should live free. while the cause is the same everyone has a different reason for serving. maybe they are following in their father s footsteps or felt a calling after the terrorists tore down the twin towers. for me it was a patriotic parade or a series of them in a small town. motherly day and fourth of july parades in a tiny town in southern minnesota where my parents grew up. the whole town lined up on the tree sign side of the main street waiting for the veterans to walk by and when they came older vets and younger vets, crowd clapped and saluted. the reverence that town had for the veterans made me say, wow, those men really did something special. something bigger than this town. something bigger than themselves. these men were willing to put on a uniform and face danger for me, a kid they never met. it was just a handful of veterans, from one town. but every town in america gave men like that. out of sheer patriotism
And then he had to go because he was a pilot. and so then, it was about three months later, and i got a call from the hospital, that somebody wanted to see me, and i walked the halls to see if i could find him because that s what you had to do. it was just rolls of beds of injured. and rosews of beds of injure. i found two stumps exercising, that was my friend, and he said, don t cry, i ll be in california shortly playing golf and that was the end of my sight for him, and i heard from him later, but that was it. so that was the worst thing i went through. i m sure he was comforted to see you. and to hear your familiar voice. yes, ma am. yes, ma am. what a service that was. i m sure you warmed his heart in