It is Veteran's Day...

A Civilian Song

Yes, and I lived long enough to get to be one of those old gray haired or bald fatter fellows that couldn't possibly wear the uniform that he served in, sigh.

The Secret Hero

Once there was a man and a real wonder if was. For the man was just common folk, not too smart, not too handsome, or strong or especially skillful. Unknown to most people the man was a Hero, brave in the face of the most terrible dangers, but this was a secret.

Perhaps his mother knew she had raised a hero, aside from all the trouble he had caused her heart and grayed her hair. She saw him stand forth and strong against wrong in defense of the weak. But it was probably just her love coloring her memory. No one else could remember such actions from him, not ever, mothers only see from their heart.

His father was a strong man, a hard worker, skilled at his craft, well thought of by the community and family, a man that only feared God. Now he knew that his son wasn't a hero -- he had tried to raise him right, but his son had destroyed things of beauty and age in his clumsiness. One day he would make his father proud and the next he would shame him with empty boasts and actions. There was a wildness in the son that troubled the father, he was not doing well in school and found adventure in the darkness of night. This saddened the father that had wished so many good things for his children.

As with sons throughout the ages, the son marched off to the military and did his duty. He never had the opportunity to be a medalled hero and win honors and be written of in song and story, but he served well.

He found a true love, courted and married her and they started a family. They had a son. And the son grew and became a man and a wonder it was... For the man was just common folk, not too smart, not too handsome, or strong or especially skillful. Unknown to most people the man was a Hero, brave in the face of the most terrible dangers, but this was a secret.

Perhaps his mother knew she had raised a hero, aside from all the trouble he had caused her heart and grayed her hair. She saw him stand forth and strong against wrong in defense of the weak. But it was probably just her love coloring her memory. No one else could remember such actions from him, not ever, mothers only see from their heart.

His father was a strong man, a hard worker, skilled at his craft, well thought of by the community and family, a man that only feared God. Now he knew that his son wasn't a hero -- he had tried to raise him right, but his son had destroyed things of beauty and age in his clumsiness. One day he would make his father proud and the next he would shame him with empty boasts and actions. There was a wildness in the son that troubled the father, he was not doing well in school and found adventure in the darkness of night. This saddened the father that had wished so many good things for his children.

As with sons throughout the ages, the son marched off to the military and did his duty. He never had the opportunity to be a medalled hero and win honors and be written of in song and story, but he served well.

He found a true love, courted and married her and they started a family. They had a son. And the son grew and became a man and a wonder it was... For the man was just common folk, not too smart, not too handsome, or strong or especially skillful. Unknown to most people the man was a Hero, brave in the face of the most terrible dangers, but this was a secret.

Perhaps his mother knew she had raised a hero, aside from all the trouble he had caused her heart and grayed her hair. She saw him stand forth and strong against wrong in defense of the weak. But it was probably just her love coloring her memory. No one else could remember such actions from him, not ever, mothers only see from their heart.

His father was a strong man, a hard worker, skilled at his craft, well thought of by the community and family, a man that only feared God. Now he knew that his son wasn't a hero -- he had tried to raise him right, but his son had destroyed things of beauty and age in his clumsiness. One day he would make his father proud and the next he would shame him with empty boasts and actions. There was a wildness in the son that troubled the father, he was not doing well in school and found adventure in the darkness of night. This saddened the father that had wished so many good things for his children.

As with sons throughout the ages, the son marched off to the military and did his duty. He never had the opportunity to be a medalled hero and win honors and be written of in song and story, but he served well.

He found a true love, courted and married her and they started a family. They had a son. And the son grew and became a man and a wonder it was... For the man was just common folk, not too smart, not too handsome, or strong or especially skillful. Unknown to most people the man was a Hero, brave in the face of the most terrible dangers, but this was a secret.

Perhaps his mother knew she had raised a hero, aside from all the trouble he had caused her heart and grayed her hair. She saw him stand forth and strong against wrong in defense of the weak. But it was probably just her love coloring her memory. No one else could remember such actions from him, not ever, mothers only see from their heart.

His father was a strong man, a hard worker, skilled at his craft, well thought of by the community and family, a man that only feared God. Now he knew that his son wasn't a hero -- he had tried to raise him right, but his son had destroyed things of beauty and age in his clumsiness. One day he would make his father proud and the next he would shame him with empty boasts and actions. There was a wildness in the son that troubled the father, he was not doing well in school and found adventure in the darkness of night. This saddened the father that had wished so many good things for his children.

As with sons throughout the ages, the son marched off to the military and did his duty. He never had the opportunity to be a medalled hero and win honors and be written of in song and story, but he served well.

He found a true love, courted and married her and they started a family. They had a son. And the son grew and became a man and a wonder it was...

For this story goes on every day and for years the wonder is that all these heroes are raised everywhere and only waiting for the time they must stand up to evil, and while they wait they raise the next generation of heroes, they support the good in their community and spread love throughout the world, but remember.... this is a secret, and the government never needs to find out.


So, for my grandfather (WWI), my father and uncle (WWII, Korea), myself and my cousin (RVN, Gulf War I), my niece and son (current Wars on Terror). Lots of my family has served in uniform without going to war, my brother, his first wife, my brother-in-laws, all my cousins on my father's side. Happy Veterans Day! Knowing what we do best is all that we love.