A couple years back I asked my kids if they knew why they had no school that November 11th. After a minute the older one answered “Veteran’s Day!”, and then I asked if she knew what that was about.
Not surprisingly, they didn’t, so I commemorated Veteran’s Day by informing my kids (as nonchalantly as possible 😉 why it was they didn’t have school that day. And I used the fact that my grandpa was there, was “on site, so to speak, as the engine of telling them how the holiday came to be, all the while trying my damnedest to put it in terms they could at least somewhat grasp.
I was helped in this by the fact they enjoyed a very warm, fun and close relationship with their grandma, i.e., my mom. And it was her “daddy” (as they would term it at the time I did this) who was the soldier in question. So it was at least a hook. And they were relatively rapt for several continuous minutes as I did a show ‘n’ tell about it with photos of my grandpa from the war & postcards he sent and brought back.
He was a soldier of the American Expeditionary Force stationed on the Western Front at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when a cease fire was declared and Word War One ended. More on that is below, if you want to read it.
On to honoring the vets in my life.
Both my kids’ grandfathers served, (which includes my dad), both of my own grandfathers served, as did my two uncles on this side of the Atlantic, and one of their sons, my first cousin.
Each story of each of these guys is a fascinating one, and framed their lives in one way or another.
Some of the most moving words I’ve ever come across came to me in a correspondence with a relative some years back. That person had been intimately acquainted with life in the military, and conveyed to me with a slap-down honesty that even when military personnel and their families disagreed with or disapproved of the wars or actions with which they’d been charged — as the person in question and their family did of certain conflicts — that indeed because of the price that real people pay in the service, that supporting our troops in all and every way possible was not merely their (and our) duty, but that it’s the kind of responsibility akin to keeping a dog on a leash on a busy street, of feeding your newborn baby. Because just like in those cases, it’s life itself, on the line that they were talking about.
Lee Campbell (grandfather)
US Army 1st Division
WW I; Occupation of Germany – 1917-1920
John Dunn (grandfather)
British Royal Navy
Ireland; England; Hong Kong – 1921-1929
John Dunn (dad)
British Army & Commando Unit
Egypt & Libya – 1945-1949
George Campbell (uncle)
US Navy
Philippines; Pacific Ocean; San Diego – 1965-1977
Joel Campbell (1st Cousin)
US Army Airborne
Hawaii – 1994 – 2005
“Red” Cobb (uncle by marriage)
US Naval Academy, Annapolis
US Navy – 1960s
Robert Sheehan (father-in-law)
US Air Force
Kentucky; Northern California – 1957-1963
I think the pictures and the fact that they know their gramma (my mom) really well, and that I emphasized that this person I was talking about was her DADDY, that she actually KNEW this guy, could remember being held by him, and maybe that I had WW I sounds playing in the background…anyway, I was able to actually hold their attention telling that story, reading the bits from his letters, and they were into it.
I also then charted out so they (and I!) could see just how many of our relatives were and are veterans. Only the one I just mentioned, my grandfather Lee H. Campbell participated in WW I and experienced the Armistice of 11/11/1918, but practically every male relative has served. Here, then, is a list of my relatives who’ve served. In the cases where I don’t have a picture of the individual in question, I’ve put pictures instead representative of their service (read the captions for specifics).
To those who have served, serve now and will serve.
God’s speed and Amen.
Roots to Now 