Thank you Veterans for serving and putting your personal safety at risk to protect our country. Today I will be thinking of you all but in particular I will consider the ones in my circle, and family that have stood with their nation and did what they felt was necessary. Not all wars are popular; there will always be questions as to whether we belonged in a particular place. We should never let these issues take away from the sacrifice made by men and women in these conflicts. Although I was quite young I can still recall the terrible treatment of our soldiers when they returned from Vietnam. I hope to never witness anything like that again.
In my field I try to locate service records, and pension files. It is a way of course to fill out the family tree, and push the research back another generation. Also one really must consider the impact these battles had on the individual. I need only look to war veterans in my family that I have known to realize it is something that stays with them their entire life. Many chose not even to discuss their experience at all or until enough years passed by to open that door once again. Some of our Veterans carry physical burdens their entire life, and others never make it home. Did they have a home to go to when they returned? Who worked the farm while they were away? What challenges did they face in their life because of their answer to our nation’s call? Don’t just use your ancestors records as a spring-board to determining their lineage, but also consider how it may have changed their lives.
I’ve traveled to many historic places throughout my life and there are a few that really impacted my thoughts on hardships our folks must have withstood. The two in particular that I have felt it most strongly are Gettysburg PA, and Fort McHenry in Baltimore MD. My husband has visited the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor and he felt it truly was a memorable trip as well. I find touring these sites opens our eyes to the experiences our service men and women may have endured.
I’d like to recognize my war veterans, and offer my appreciation for their efforts. Without your sacrifices who knows what freedoms we would not have today. Here is also to hoping that someday we won’t have any conflicts at all.
Brian, My Stepfather – Vietnam War
Joseph, My Father –in Law – Korean War
Walter, My Grandfather – World War II
Joseph, My Second Great Grandfather – Spanish American War
Peleg, My Fifth Great-Grandfather – War of 1812
Peleg, My Sixth Great- Grandfather – Revolutionary War