Memorial Day, photo says it all

[jimdana1942]

 

[dantheman]

Thank you Jim . It needed to be said .

 

[Mojo Rider]

Best post of the month. Thank You!

 

[JBP55]

AMEN!

 

[doc ace]

Amen.

 

[Hitman]

I know not everyone here is a Christian, so this might not make much sense to everyone I guess, but My Dad is and he just sent me this post on Facebook which I'll share in a minute. Now I've been out of the Corps since 2006. My Dad wrote me a very few letters but we barely talked. To him, me being overseas meant that I was gone until I got back and that was that. He wasn't a Veteran himself so I guess this is just how he dealt with it.

So since being back for years now I'm seeing a whole new side of Veterans and those who are affected. There's much more to be thankful for and prayerful for and conscious of than just the Service Member. The Service Members Family has got to be the most forgot about folks. What our fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and our children go through is only known by those who have been through it themselves. Making the family members just as close knit as the Troops.

Especially with wives. My wife still has the "Marine Wife" license plate. She still talks to her old friends and they are a VERY close group. I had no idea just how much she went through, with her friends while we were gone. She tells this horror story that was pretty much a copy of a "We Were Soldiers" scene where wives were deathly afraid of seeing a particular car show up in the neighborhood. In their, case it was a Blue Dodge Intrepid. If that Car showed up in the parking lot, she said women would rush inside their apartments and peek through the windows to see where it would stop and then feel guilty for doing so when the Chaplain and a Marine in Dress Blues got out do deliver the worst news to someone else. She's telling me this and I'm doing all I can to hold it together. She describes seeing a mother with a baby on her hip answer the door and just fall to the floor. I lost it at that point.

My point in telling that story is to remind us that there's more to the Veteran. The Veterans Family has sacrificed and suffers just as well and just as deep.

My Father has spoken little to me about his thoughts while I was away.

But now, almost 8 years since I've been back from my last deployment, he sends me this.

He wrote this and posted it on our Family Group Wall on Facebook. So it's written towards my brother and sister as well as our wives and my brother-n-law.

As I checked out from buying groceries this morning, the cashier asked if I had big plans for Memorial Day.....that question struck a deep chord in me. My first thought was, although I am mindful of those who died in combat, I am ever more mindful of those who lived. This is not about Memorial Day, but about the "combat vets" who live. It brought my mind back to when D and I were writings letters to one another while he was at war. My baby was way away from here, and somebody had all intentions of trying to kill him....that is from the eyes of a "combat veteran daddy". I was greatly comforted by God as D and I came to the conclusion that if he were to die at war, we knew where he would spend eternity. It would be the second time God made me release D to Him. But God had a different plan in... mind, He brought D home to me, Holy, but without holes. P T L.....Nevertheless, D came home with something you can't hold with your hands or stare at with your eyes. He came home a "combat veteran". He came home with a mind full of things most people can't imagine. As I prepared for D's return stateside, I asked my father-in-law (Viet Nam vet) for any words of wisdom. He slowly looked at me and said only three words, "war is hell". Little did I know how powerful those few words were, and how profound. Those words made me look into a box that I had never seen before. It is a deep and dark box with endless crevices and multiple places to hide. It was a tiny glimpse of the mind of a combat vet, from a "combat vets daddy" point of view. My son left a boy, and was now coming back as a warrior, with combat memories. My knees buckled and my soul screamed to God, he's my son! But as usual, God comforted me with, "I am always with him"! God made sure I knew that I would be learning more about unconditional love, patience, and empathy. No one can see clearly into a combat vets mind, it is as personal as his DNA. But where there is darkness, the light of Love is always there to dispell it. This began to teach me a different level of God's Love for us. No matter what darkness we may have travelled through, God was always there. His Love for us has no bounds, it is patient, and it looks over our most vile conditions. So today, I look yet through another set of eyes. The eyes of love without record. The eyes that can't see another persons "hell mind", but can still show empathy. I thank God that D is in the land of the living but I thank Him even more that my children and my children's children will see God! If you run across a combat vet, pray for him, love him, and if they'll let you, hug em. They all left to war trained to do a job....but they came back with something few can ever understand....only love can heal their wounds....from a combat vets dad

Those words broke me. My Dad has never displayed such deep emotion towards me. Not in that way and not about that topic. I simply had no clue how he thought and dealt with having a Veteran Son.


So folks, this Memorial Day, please remember our Entire Military Family. Veterans & Their Family Members deserve recognition for their sacrifices made. They deserve those hugs and those "Thank You for Your Service" handshakes too.


God Bless America!


/

 

[Armnhammer]

Thanks for your service hitman and thanks to all the combat vets and families on here. Alot of people don't realize the sacrifices made.


MOΛΩN ΛABE

 

[oleheat]

Your Dad sounds like a great man, if I may say....


That's one to show your grandkids, one day.

 

[kengel2]

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jjregan.htm

 

[dixiejarhead]

Semper Fi Hitman. I shared the same pic on FB. Vets to the front of the line.

 

[Mac 1]

That brought tears to my eyes Hitman.

 

[Golden-Eagle]

Awesome Hitman. Thank you.

 

[cajun 22]

Nice Hitman.

 

[tupperware9mm]

Thanks for sharing Hitman,.... and for you and all who have who have served a heart felt thank you for your service.

 

[Tigerfish]

Hittman, thanks for sharing and thanks for your service. We are forever in debated to you and others like you that have chosen to serve our great nation.

However, I feel as though I must respectfully disagree with something in what you posted. It was stated: This is not about Memorial Day, this is about the "combat vets" that live. Again, with all due respect and gratitude, that is simply not correct. Memorial Day is specifically for those that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The Combat Vets that live also have their day, it's Veterans Day. While we could never pay you the debt we owe you for serving us and our country, but lets give those that never came home to their families their own day.

 

[Tigerfish]

Here's thinking of a great man and a best friend - Mike Gabel.

 

[Hippie Crusher]

Thanks for sharing

 

[Hitman]

However, I feel as though I must respectfully disagree with something in what you posted. It was stated: This is not about Memorial Day, this is about the "combat vets" that live. Again, with all due respect and gratitude, that is simply not correct. Memorial Day is specifically for those that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The Combat Vets that live also have their day, it's Veterans Day. While we could never pay you the debt we owe you for serving us and our country, but lets give those that never came home to their families their own day.

I think that was part of my Dad's post actually. He doesn't know all the ends and outs of the Military or the Holidays for them. In his eyes, Memorial Day and Veterans Day is just all about Veterans.

I know the difference just felt like sharing since it was his post today that started the whole process.

 

[3fifty7]

Thank you to all who have served especially those who are no longer hear to thank, our gratitude is immeasurable.

 

[Cat]

I took it to mean his words weren't about Memorial Day. His thoughts were more towards veterans, however Memorial Day prompted the internal musings, so he shared... And Hitman shared.

Fact is: for someone who isn't military but has had to deal with deployment, any pro-military holiday they are immediately going to think of their own. What matters is they get it. Deep down they recognize the truly important meaning. I wouldn't disagree with anything his dad said. Even about what it's about. Because in truth handling the fact he could have died is relative to this weekend and following Monday.

By the grace of God, his Memorial Day is far different than it could have been. D I think your dad was right on the money. No confusion at all about what Monday could have personally meant to your family. Something I think we all memorialize as a society until its one of yours. For many Monday is hell. Being slapped in the face all day every day this week, remember the fallen? Hell. There are no happy feel good bbq's or boastful claims of deceased great grandfathers.

For our current families, Monday is also a "what could have been". I think more than one parent will consider it. That's only natural human emotion.