My Veterans Day Salute

My salute begins with a huge "thank you" to all who have served or are presently serving our country.  I am ever grateful for your protection and devotion to duty.  And, to all our close friends who have served, I know what your work and sacrifice meant, and you are all heroes to me.

The focus of my salute today, though, is to one particular veteran; my husband.  While in the U.S. Navy, he braved combat duty in Vietnam twice, once before we were married and, again, a few months after our wedding.  The Vietnam War was new to everyone when he served his first tour, not monopolizing the headlines or causing protests at home.  In his letters to me, he didn't talk about the action much.  In later years, I understood why.

Unlike his father, my husband didn't come home to cheering crowds or waving flags.  By the time he was discharged, Vietnam had become a "dirty word" at home, and he was vilified for having been there.  He had lost his two best childhood friends in the war, and seen much more that prompted nightmares.  But no one wanted to hear about it.

It took decades before the public began acknowledging what our military endured in Vietnam and to give thanks to those men and women for their sacrifice.  My husband could finally wear his Vietnam Veteran status with honor, and there were many times he teared up when someone would thank him for his service there.

At the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, I have had to explain to our children why Daddy was crying as he stood there remembering those who fell.  He still suffers from medical problems, including PTSD. And it has only been recently that he has shared with me what really happened during that war, and when he did, we wept together.  But he left the house this morning proudly wearing his Vietnam Service medal.  What I've witnessed in him, and the way he survived, give me even more reasons to be proud of him.

I am only one of hundreds of thousands of Veteran relatives, no matter where their loved ones served, who know how much this day means to them.  Don't pass up an opportunity today to salute and thank a veteran.  And don't ever forget how lucky we are that they accepted the call.