[quote]hel320 wrote:
Guess I’ve just gotten used to sharing with you all but I thought I’d post the following. Wrote it for some other web sites. Sorry if it’s inappropriate for here but I feel the need.
A man died the other day. We laid him to rest today. The honor guard, myself, and few guys from the Vets home. They gave me the Flag and an old box full of his medals because there was no one else.
He remembered the 6th grade but went to the fields after that. Like many he enlisted after Pearl Harbor and found his home. Spend his 21 birthday in a German POW camp. Spend another birthday drinking soup from his piss pot in a “cold ass tent somewheres in Korea”. Spend his last birthday in the military on his second tour of Vietnam. He remembered parades when he came home from WWII and being spit on coming home from Vietnam.
Was he a good man? I don’t know. He told lots of stories of barfights, whores, gambling, and jails he’d been in. He’d been married at least twice he could remember but those didn’t last. Only thing he was ever good at was the military. Never did much with himself after that. Odd jobs here and there. Lived mainly off his retirement. Cheated when we played cards and still drank when he could get hold of it. He did like my pancakes, though.
We won’t find his kind in the military anymore. The political correctness of our time has changed that. His kind of GI pretty much went the way of the dinosaur.
When I opened the box there were Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, Purple Hearts, and some I didn’t recognize. He was old and used up when he died. His best years had been gladly given to his country. Today we laid a hero to rest and I just thought others should know. I’ll miss him.
Back to the gym and my normal happy self tomorrow morning.
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Thanks for sharing that hel. It reminds me of my Uncle Jarry, whom I was named after. Small man, 5’7’ and 165 pounds. Did two tours in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, when he came home he was different. Still the same fun loving guy, always happy and pleasant, but drinking heavily. Told me some crazy shit about what he did while he was in the corps. Eventually the drinking killed him, I miss him terribly. He was buried with full military honors, the Marines really know how to say good bye to one of their own. One of his old buddies walked up to the open casket and laid a silver star in with Jarry, and said “See Ya Buddy”. I’m going to see him at the cemetary next week.