Remembering Those Who Served

I was born a sheet metal contractors son—I think I was his later in life attempt at a son, and he got twins; being the only boy I got to spend a ton of time with him—we did some fun stuff. Crazy as it seems my early memories of my friends riding snowmobiles, fishing, being in the wilderness and even drinking all included him—he was a hard worker, 14 hour days were the norm. After he bought his $17,800 cabin in Wisconsin we would ride up north every weekend to work on his place. My dad was as good of a man as you could know—one of his phrases was “say your prayers”, so I asked him once “what do you pray for?” and I remember I was joking with him, but he got serious and said “I pray you never go to war”—I wasn’t ready for that. Back in the 80’s, men didn’t talk too much about what scared them but it was clear he never wanted me to see what he had seen. He would never would go into detail about what he saw, but as you may imagine, a kid like me wanted to know. I wanted him to tell me the graphic details but he never did. One night I was sitting with him in the hospital and he was worried that if he died he was going to hell—I know he was talking about what had happened in Korea. On this day, as we mark December 7, a younger man who never had to see war, prays the same for his son and your son and your daughters as well. Many are not as fortunate but to those who have gone, we must lift them up and take care of them—and at the very least, we must always remember Pearl Harbor Day.

RR