Monday, October 19, 2015

Military Monday : A Hero Story

I am back to renew my blog relationship.  I have found myself far away from this blog, but after visiting it last night, I remembered why I started blogging, and why I loved it.  I am too late for a Sentimental Sunday post for my Hero, so I will start with Military Monday.


The Hero was very proud of his service in the Army Medical Reserves. He served 3 enlistments. When he was assisting in planning his funeral (yes, he did), he was concerned because he was not a full time enlisted man that he wouldn't be honored with a flag on his casket.  A friend, who had been in Viet Nam, said I don't think it is a problem.  He called the VFW and visited with them, then called the Hero back and said, not only would the VA provide an American flag for the services,they would have someone to be there to fold the flag to be given to be given to the family. This was very relieving to the Hero. He was very patriotic, and was from the time his was little.  I wondered about this and decided to research the military in his family history.
The first thing I discovered was on his dad's side, only an uncle had served in the military in the United States. His grandfather had not served, he had diabetes.  His great grandfather had not served, he was an immigrant from Canada, and was too old for the WWI &WWII.  On his paternal grandmother's side, it was all the way back in the War of 1812 that a fourth great grandfather served and it was for Great Britain.
Moving to his mother's side of the family, the search went back to the Civil War, on both sides of her family.  One great great grandfather died in Savannah during the war. Both her paternal and maternal sides fought for the South.
The Hero's twin, who also served in the Reserves, made a trip to Savannah to see the tombstone.
Neither the Hero's father, nor his paternal and maternal grandfathers fought in a war, and they did not appear to be politically active.
It seems that the Hero, by some fluke, just came by his patriotism on his own.  He was one who loved his country dearly and studied the constitution as well as followed the politics of his time carefully. Now this was passed down to all his children today. They each keep informed about the state of affairs in the country.  He taught them to study things out, weight the information and make their own choices.  One of his sons is on his third enlistment in the Air Force Reserve and has served one tour in Qutar.  He would have been proud how they have grown.

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