Jeffrey, if you can give LC permission to release your email to me (or want to just post it here), I’ll be happy to commiserate and share some thoughts. I’m careful to keep my name etc. private online–no Liberal would hire me.

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I Met This Marine On Veterans Day

Yesterday, as I was leaving my neighborhood supermarket, a World War II Marine veteran, looking smart in his VFW cap and jacket, was stationed by the exit accepting donations for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Assistance Program. I reached into my wallet and deposited a few bills into the donation bucket for this worthy cause. The elderly Marine nodded and thanked me, to which I responded welcomingly. Inevitably we got around to exchanging stories and he told me he served with the 1st Marine Regiment at the Battle of Biak, a part of the New Guinea campaign of Word War II. I told him my Dad had served at Leyte Gulf and other areas in the Pacific theater, aboard a US Navy AKA designated to transport ammunition. I mentioned my service with the 4th Armored Div. 7th Army, stationed in post WW2 West Germany in the early sixties as well.

We kept chatting for several minutes when an elderly women, confined to a standard wheelchair, was pushing herself toward the small table on which the donation bucket sat. I had seen this woman many times before. Here at the market, the post office, the pharmacy and going about her day to day business as any able bodied person would. The most remarkable thing I must tell you about this woman…she is a double amputee.

As the woman neared the table I stepped aside and the Marine bowed to her as she handed him several gently folded dollar bills. As they made the exchange the woman clasped the Marine’s hand and then said, “Thank you, thank you so very much for you service…God bless you.” At that moment he extended his other hand and clasped both her tiny hands in his, then he bent down a kissed her on the forehead. “God bless you too, ma’am…and thank YOU very much.”

The vet and I watched as this extraordinary person turned her wheelchair around and headed off to complete her errands. For a brief moment the Marine and I just looked at one another speechless. He, speaking first, said, “What a nice lady.” ‘Yes, she is.’ I replied, both of us still dumbfounded as if we had witnessed something so profound; an act so selfless in a world so filled with greed and envy, it was as if we both wanted to extend that moment for as long as possible. At that thought a couple of young girls stepped up to the table and dropped some money into the small bucket. With big waves, big smiles and exuberant thank yous, the two girls rejoined their Mom, standing close by, who also gave a thank you accompanied by a smile.

It was obvious that our masculinity had been chinked. I noticed the Marine was a little bleary-eyed, and I suppose he noticed that I was as well. And I suspected that my new found brother was feeling the same sense of grief as I. Grief for an America we had sworn to serve and protect, only to see it defeated from within at the hands of Godless self serving beasts who never shed one drop of blood in defense of freedom and liberty, but only that of the most innocent and defenseless among us.

We shook hands, I thanked him once more and then we gave each other a hug. Like brothers in arms, although a generation apart, who never crossed paths until today. A strong sense of connection, even though we had never fought side by side, bonded us. It bonded us because we are Americans. We fight and die for each other no matter what, where or when. We support our troops and care for our loved ones because we are Americans. We don’t need or want a tyrannical government telling us what we MUST do or how we MUST live our lives. We are persistent, loyal and dedicated to preserving the Constitution of the United States of America.

Our battles have been many and varied. We have fought here at home and abroad, sacrificing much and asking little in return. But in every case it has always been to liberate enslaved peoples and vanquish their oppressors. We never retreated during the toughest battles or the darkest storms. We’ve kept on fighting because we’ve grown accustom to the sweet taste of freedom, and have no appetite for the bitter taste of servitude imposed by a tyrannical government. We’ve been fighting to preserve freedom and liberty in this Country for 236 years!…and we sure as hell won’t stop now!……Because we are Americans!

God bless our veterans, and God bless America

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