Tuesday, November 10, 2015

This Veteran's Day: Let's Appreciate Our Family Treasures


In my home I have a glass curio cabinet filled with little treasures.
They are not expensive pieces, but they are priceless to me.

One of my favorite items is an old tattered, knotted string that holds
my grandfather's dog tags from World War I. 



I pick these dog tags up from time to time and think about what they have been through.
I think about what my grandfather went through . . . 
How it affected him . . . 
. . . How it affected his family . . .
. . . And how that generation of Veterans affected the entire world!



My grandfather posing in his military uniform (above) and photographed with fellow soldiers (below).  
Circa 1917.

I, too, have my own pair of dog tags. 
Not because I have served in the military, but because my father was in the Air Force.  
I only ever knew my father as an Air Force man.
It wasn't until I was a teenager that I found out that my father had served in the Army during World War II.

Over the years I have sorted through old boxes of family photos and have found more and more pictures of my father during his Army days.

I am always struck by how young he was when he was shipped off to Europe.

My father asleep on his cot (above) and sitting on the left corner of the truck (below).
I look at these photos and examine those young faces
who answered the call of their nation.
They were the Willing Warriors of their time;
Willing to undergo and overcome the horrors of war so that 
we and our allies could keep our precious freedoms.


These are the faces of soldiers who never thought of themselves as heroes.
And yet, they are the true history-makers.

I hold my grandfather's dog tags in my hand and feel such gratitude for our Veterans.
From every generation.
Then.
And Now!

They are Our Fathers and Sons, 
Our Mothers and Daughters, 
Our Sisters and Brothers.
They are our Our Treasures!

Be sure to take time to appreciate them today.
For we need to appreciate them every day.


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