I honor you, the Veterans of these United States of America.
I am a proud widow and a daughter of military veterans.
It makes me sad for all those who have lost their lives due to war.
I honor those veterans who return with physical, mental, emotional wounds. I am so very sorry. I pray for you and your families. I honor the families who serve alongside of their husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father, grandchildren for they are serving this country as well. Thank you to each and every one of you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My husband, Kenneth, was an United States Army combat veteran, 101st Airborne Division/Co. B 3/506; served in Vietnam, 1968-69 serving from 1967-1970. Kenneth died this past June 7th of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a recognized type of cancer caused by Agent Orange. Yes, Kenneth served on the ground fighting in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Agent Orange was definitely present there.
Yes, this next photo is my Kenneth in 1967 when he was going through the U.S. Army Airborne School (or Jump School {as he called it}) as part of the 101st Airborne training in Fort Benning, GA. (P.S. I wish I had known him then!! : ) )
Kenneth, you were a soldier once…and young, along with so many others in so many wars. I look at this photo of you and see such a very young man…a boy! Boys, now girls too, tend to fight the wars, don’t they?
“The Class of 1965 came out of the old America, a nation which disappeared forever in the smoke that billowed off the jungle battlegrounds where we fought and bled. The country which sent us off to war was not there to welcome us home. It no longer existed.” *
In the Prologue of We Were Soldiers Once…and Young, the authors were speaking of the Vietnam War. That is the war my Kenneth fought in. He came home with what we now call PTSD, but there was no label back then. They just came home and did the best they could. Kenneth made it. I am sorry he fought in that war. I am sorry we as a nation fought in that war. I am sorry so many died in that war. I am just sorry about all wars. I do not like arguments let alone wars.
I am sorry that we did not welcome you home as all service men and women deserve. So I say to you and to all Veterans, Welcome home.
Kenneth, I have always been so proud of you. I respected you and loved you with my whole being. Although I did not know you back then, I am so glad and grateful I was blessed to call you my husband for twenty-five years. Thank you for marrying me and loving me as you did. You were the best husband and friend to me. Thank you, Love. I am so sorry that Lymphoma took over your body though (for my loss). You are with Jesus now and that is the best news of all! Praise Him. Praise the Lord.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My father was a Navy doctor, a “lifer.” He loved his Navy. He served in WWII in the Pacific and then went on to be a part of the post-war Manhattan Project (Bikini, Eniwetok Islands) where radiation exposure took his life by Pancreatic Cancer. He practiced medicine in the Navy for 20 years until he died at age 46.
My Daddy died when I was 12. Thank you, Mama, for loving us through such a difficult season of life, of death, for all of us.
My parents are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
My family is honored. We miss them.
Daddy, I miss you so much. It has been 58 years since you died, yet it could have been yesterday. I sometimes feel like I am still 12, having that giant Daddy-hole in my heart. I love you so and wonder at all I missed by God taking you home so early in our lives. I am glad we had Mama for almost 99 years. She had a hard row ahead of her with three girls-me just on the verge of becoming a teenager. But we made it. We all turned out well. Daddy, thank you for loving us so. Thank you for your dedication to the Navy and being a doctor. You were loved by so many and missed by so many. I pray I will see you again one day on the other side. I love you, Your oldest daughter
Freedom is not FREE…never will be either!
Freedom comes with a huge price…one worthy of a fight…but where do we as the United States of America draw the line. As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ending of WWI, while pondering WWII, especially this weekend as our nation celebrates Veterans Day, how many wars does it take to be free? How many lives?
Gone to graveyards, every one
Oh, when will they ever learn
Oh, when will they ever learn? **
When will WE ever learn?
Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 1 Peter 2:16 ESV
For He Himself is our peace, Who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making
peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Ephesians 2:14-21
Jesus paid the ultimate price for our/my freedom. You offered Your Son as the Sacrifice to redeem Your children to You. I am and will be grateful forever, Abba Father. May I live as You have called me to live, Father God. Thank You for these men and women who have served and are currently serving this country. I pray that we do not forget them but honor them in this life for the honor with which most have served. I lift up those today who came back from war with scars on or in their bodies, minds, and souls. Protect and heal them, Father. I pray for the families of those fallen soldiers, the families of those who are currently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, in other areas of this world where they are in harm’s way. I pray for the families of those who have returned from war injured in one way or another. Oh God, be with them each and all. I lift up our Coast Guard who are risking their lives to interdict the drugs and the cartels who are making these runs. I lift the military who have been called to our Southern border alongside the Border Patrol. I pray You give them and the government wisdom and compassion regarding those many who are seeking asylum to a country they hope is a better place to live. Oh, Father, there are so many concerns. I pray on my knees before You. Thank You for hearing my cries. May we each turn to You and know that You are God and Father of all. Amen.
American Flag: http://wallpapernpictures.blogspot.com/2012/07/american-flag.html
Fall in Arlington National Cemetery/Veterans Day: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/11/11/veterans-day-weekend-fall-color-at-arlington-national-cemetery-photos/?utm_term=.ca70a6b848a1
Fall Sunrise in Arlington National Cemetery, by SGT Cody Torkelson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. PUBLIC DOMAIN 
Private photos from my own collection of Kenneth, Daddy, gravesite at ANC
History Repeating Vietnam/Vietnam Memorial Wall, Washington, D.C.: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial
* Quote: from “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway
** from “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” by Pete Seeger, 1955