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Happy Veteran's Day to everyone who served.

Continue to Pray for those who are serving now
and their familes.

Walt Campbell
USAF '66-'70

Thanks, Veterans!

We owe it all to these guys, past and present.

Heard a great show on NPR yesterday (yes I know they're liberal). They interviewed several still- living veterans of WWI, yes, that's a "one"after the WW. The guys were 105 to 113, all sharp and all had good stories and interesting, thought-provoking things to say. 'Course thse are guys that signed up young-- like at age 15 1/2 in the case of the 105-year-old.

WWII vets? I read three years ago that 1100-and-some die every day in this country. That gives one an idea of the scale of the whole thing. I reckon that number will climb and then drop off. Maybe in 25 years we can hear some interviews with 113-year-old WWII vets.

The people answering the call now, no different. Cook, clerk, door kicker, you're all part of the fence keeping the rest of us safe, and we are in your debt.

Good point- That many dying each day shows how many people were involved.

Also- There's probably (?) times that many stories that never get told. There are vets (from any time period) with stories they have never shared- some because they don't want to talk about it, but others just think no one would be interested.

I don't know if such a thing exists for other time periods, but the late
historian/writer Stephen Ambrose set up a phone messaging system for WWII vets. They could call a number, and have their experiences recorded for the future. Many would call sharing stories that they never thought were very interesting, but historians (and other people who just plain cared) felt differently.

Jeff Cooper wrote about a German friend who was once a POW of the Russians in Siberia, who escaped and made his way across Europe over a period of months and months. He never recorded the story himself, as he thought no one would be interested. Col Cooper's point was- "Write it down." It may be of great importance to someone.

One of my favorite WWII books almost didn't get printed. It was written by a paratroper in the 506th Rgt of the 101st Abn named David Kenyon Webster. He was an Ivy League student who joined up to write about the war from the soldier's perspective. After the war, he tried many times to get his memiors published, but was always refused. After the Stephen Ambrose book, then HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers" came out, interest increased in aything related to WWII Airborne. Ambrose had read Webster's manuscript as research for Band of Brothers (a LOT came from the book) and got it published...50+ years after it was written, and 30 years after Webster's death.
You never know.
Write it down.

I had the grand pleasure of meeting a Pearl Harbor survivor at my VFW Post this weekend.

Thanks to all Veterans for your service.

And many beers to Dodge, Bill, Aaron, Doug and Steve. RIP guys.

_________________
Skydiving: Infinitely better than the usual crap you do.