We don’t do the BBQ thing on Memorial Day or ‘celebrate’ as such. We tend to spend the day quietly and remember those who fought and died for our freedom. And there are always some good war movies to watch on TV. I’ve never cared for shopping for ‘sales’ for Memorial Day. Just doesn’t seem right somehow. We tend to talk about our family members who served in the military, especially our fathers who served in WWII. My dad, Paul, and Brad’s dad, Dave, had stories we grew up hearing as kids that meant a lot to us. They both served in the Navy.
Dave talked Brad out of enlisting in the Marine Corp in 1971, for which we are all eternally grateful. He didn’t think the war in Vietnam was something we should be involved in and didn’t want his son to be a part of it. And, as it turned out, six years later Brad became a cop and thrived during his career.
Our daughter, Audrey, served one tour in the Navy in the late 90’s right out of High School. She graduated from Great Lakes and went to A school in Pensacola before being stationed at Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, where she married a Navy man, a Chief Petty Officer, when her tour was over. Both of them serving in Aircraft Ordinance. Their two oldest children were born there in 1998 and 2000.
My Uncle David was in the Army, served in Korea and Vietnam, and two of his three sons served, one in the Air Force and one in the Navy. My Great-uncle Don served in the Army in WWII as a cook and after the war he had his own catering business out in California and met many of the current movie stars and celebrities before returning to Texas in retirement.
I have a cousin, George, who served in the Air Force for over twenty years. Two of his sons were about the same age as me and my brother and enlisted in the military, serving more than one tour each.
Our families are descended from ancestors who had a strong work ethic and didn’t shirk serving their communities and the country when called upon to do so. Brad and I both have ancestors who helped to settle this part of Texas from the time it became a state. We have a lot of history in North East Texas and it means something. We both have ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War and the Spanish American War. This is the day we honor all of them and thank God for our great country.
Have a blessed Memorial Day with your families and…remember!
Rural Texas Knitter 