Sacrifice

The Viet Nam war ended two days after my18th birthday.

I had watched the war on nightly news for ten years and had a confused understanding of it. I watched many young men, only a few years older than me go….and come back with American flags draped over their caskets.

I knew for me, there was no option. If the war was still going on after my high school graduation and college didn’t work out, I was going to be drafted and serve. I would not have forsaken those who went before…and my family wouldn’t have accepted me in Canada.

I get emotional on Memorial Day because I think about those kids I knew who went and died. The ones who went before them to fight in Korea, Europe, the South Pacific.

Would I have had the guts to be a member of Darby’s Rangers, the elite paratroopers who landed in advance of D-Day? Thankfully, I will never know…but I owe them….and countless other men and women who have given their lives in service to their country. We all do.

While I never wore the uniform of my country, I can be eternally grateful for those who did…and mournful for those who died in our defense.

Take a few minutes today to join me in honoring their sacrifices.