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Thanks to all our veterans and thanks to all of our fellow servicemen and women for their ultimate sacrifice and bravery, who never returned.

A Co. 3rd Bat. 60th INF 9th INF DIV
Mekong Delta, Vietnam 1966-67
 
We went out for breakfast this morning and our regular local restaurant is not charging for meals to Veterans today. At first I was going to decline the free meal but then I decided it would be more respectful to accept it and to later make up for it with increased future business for them.

Snopes.com is running this:

Image


http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/embrace.asp

Which says it all.

Jerry
 
Thanks everyone for the words. I also thank all the men and women who are now serving. BTW Applebees and Out Back offering free meals to Vets also. Will be heading to Applebee,s for supper. Later RJD
 
Bought my 84 old Uncle lunch today. His favorite place for lunch. Nappanee, IN Chinese food, Amish waitress, country music on the radio.....

One of the ones we really need to thank. Drafted out of HS in 43, missed his Senior year. A couple of years in not so merry old England. Normandy D-Day +4. All the way through France as a scout. Wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. Recovery took months. Back to Belgium to drive the brass around for 6 months after VE day. Bronze Star, two Purple hearts.

Thanks Unc!
 
You look at that picture and they are all adults...My grandson, age 9, ask me to come to his school for a Veterans Day
program. I wasn't sure but I went...it was wonderful. I sat next to a WW 2 Vet, 83 years old, who had served in
Europe. There were two other WW 2 vets and the youngest was home from Afgan on leave. The kids in the school
made you proud. They sang, posted the colors, read items of thanks and really showed respect. As we vets left
the reviewing stand first, there were many "thank you"s from kids K-9. I had a hard time not shedding a tear....
These are the people that will replace us old vets...we are in good hands.

Jerry Barnes
1st CAV
RVN 66-67
 
I left the Air Force after my first hitch of four years. I was a pretty decent electronics tech. Some places wouldn't even accept my application. Very few got as far as an interview. Typically it went like this: "have you been in the service?" "Yes, Sir. Air Force, four years" "Have you ever been to Viet Nam/Southeast Asia" "Yes, Sir, I have." "Don't let the door hit your *** on the way out."

It was very frustrating and humiliating. All I could get were menial barely over minimum wage jobs. Finally, I got back into the Air Force and gave them another 19 years.

Today it is so very different. People gather at the airport to cheer our returning heroes. I see the various events, free dinners, the thank yous mentioned above, etc. and it brings a tear to my eye. I am no longer embarrassed by my service.

To all who say "Thank you", I don't say "You're welcome", I can hold my head up and say "It is a privilege and an honor to serve you."

Thanks to all of you for giving us a country worth serving.
 
Posted By barnmichael on 19 Nov 2009 09:37 PM
Thanks to all of you for giving us a country worth serving.




Pride works both ways. The pride civilians show for returning Vets today shows that America today is a more deserving country (deserving of the service that the military performs) than the America of the 1960's.
In 1961 I was on a train from Lackland AFB (basic training) to Lowry AFB (weapons training). We stopped at a train station and had a very hard time getting served in the restaurant. It was obvious that they did not want to serve us because we were in uniform (the uniform of THEIR country).


After I was discharged in 1965 I watched TV only to see returning Vietnam Vets being spat upon.

I was proud of my service, proud of my military and proud of my country but I had little respect for a generation of Americans who were unable to appreciate the difference between their own military who were doing as they were directed by the legally elected government of the American people.

"Thanks to all of you for giving us a country worth serving." [/b]

That says it all.

Regards,

Jerry
 
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