My 2 Vets

Veterans Day is the one day of the year we stop and honor our Veteran's. That's too bad.

No, I don't mean it's too bad we take a day. I mean it's too bad we take only a day.

Here's a question for you: Who are the 2 Veteran's you would honor the most? While we need to thank all Veteran's, who are the 2 that mean the most to you?

For me, that would be 2 guys, one named Marvin and one named Larry.

Marvin left the planet over 6 years ago. It was a little after midnight, or early in the morning of January 2nd. He was 86 years old and one of the 1,000 World War II Veteran's we were losing across the country every day.

There aren't many of those Word War II vet's left now. Marvin was drafted and served in the European Theater. He crossed Normandy Beach and into France, Belgium, other countries and into Germany. He talked about a few things he saw and didn't talk about a lot of other things he saw and couldn't forget. He lived to an old age, had a great wife and family and passed away not knowing how heroic he was. I think most of those WWII Veteran's didn't know that. A 60+ year member of the American Legion, he just...did what he did.

Larry is a Viet Nam Era veteran. He had barely graduated from High School and enlisted in the Air Force. That was back in 1968 and I have always thought it took a lot of courage to do that, particularly at that time in our history. There were a lot of people that 'got out of' serving in one way or another. Some left the country altogether. I don't judge them, didn't then and don't now. People had to do what they had to do. That's what Larry did. He enlisted in the Air Force and spent 4 years in that branch of the military.

At the time, I thought it was really cool to have an older brother in the service, one who would come home with a uniform on. And each time he came home, he seemed to stand a little taller, a little straighter, a little better, at least in the eyes of his little brother.

He is my hero too. I can't say it to him, not out loud. But he is.

So those are 'My 2 Vet's'. Who are yours? Thank them, and not just on Veteran's Day.