Belated Veterans Day thoughts.

I figured I'm allowed some belated comments because I didn't start my blog until a week after Veterans Day. I have found that once I started researching my family, I have been more in awe of the sacrefices made by those who enter the military.
My father (pictured between two of his brothers, after the war) had enough credits to graduate. So he left school the middle of his senior year to enlist in the army. His family never knew how he managed to pass the physical with his bad hearing, but he did. He became a member of Darby's Rangers and was wounded in Sicily and remained at home the rest of the war. He died last winter and in going through his papers, we found that hed had been a member of the militia through the state of Michigan until the end of the war.
My great-great grandfather (The Old Gent), fought in the Civil War with his younger brother. From his records, it appeared he spent a great deal of the war in the hospital with dysentary, but he survived. Not so lucky was one of his grandsons, my grandpa's cousin who fought in the Spanish American War and later in World War I, dying in France, just a month or 2 before the Armistice. He was the first solder from his home town of Reed City to die in the war and the American Legion was named in his honor. In World War II, another of grandpa's cousin, was was raised by my great-granddad. Paul took his last name as his own when enlisting. He fought and also lost his life in France, during the Battle of the Bulge.
Currently my nephew carries the torch. I cannot begin to say how much I admire the courage and love of country I see in him and his friend who enlisted with him. With so many in this world who think we need to stop meddling in the world, I am proud that he felt the call to serve our country. I feel we cannot just abandon those around the world who depend on our support and I honor all who serve our country by serving the world.
Thanks soldiers.