FROM: Dale
Malone
TO:
Charles Harper
SUBJECT: Thank you on this Veteran's Day
Thank you! For going to foreign lands and seas, for leaving the comfort of your hometowns and going to places where your safety and life were on the line.
For Africa, Italy, France, Germany, for Burma, China, the South of Mexico, for Russian Siberia, the South Pacific, for Korea, Laos and Viet Nam, for Cuba, for Grenada, for Spain, and all the places you have gone, thank you.
For the ones that never came back, and the ones that came back with missing limbs and distressed psyches. For the times you stood your ground when everything inside was yelling at you to run. For going on patrols into areas that you were never prepared to go. For suffering the filth, the pain, and the stupidity of it all.
For standing up and being counted when the Universe said, “We need you!” For not running to Canada, or seeking deferment or preferential treatment because of your social position. For doing what no one else would do, but what had to be done.
For losing your friends and doing things that were gut-wrenching. For lowering yourself to the bestiality required to defeat human wrongs and evil, I salute you.
For freezing your gonads off in Europe and Korea, for sweating and shlogging through the jungles, for bringing relief to the peoples of Europe and Asia at the peril of your own life, I salute you.
Sometimes you marched in victory, sometimes you returned to hostility and still you were there. Sometimes you prevailed against incredible numbers, and sometimes you did not. For all the horror and all the times you would have sold your soul just for a bath, I salute you!
When America and the world needed you, you were there. I hope your spirit lives on, so that if the need arises again, more like you can be found. We all speak about ending war, but it is not over until it is over. God bless you, I salute you all, especially those who made the supreme sacrifice for my safety and ideals.
Written by Dale E. Malone, Have
you hugged a Veteran lately?
The Great & Wonderful Kahuna wants to know!
Last
modified: April 26, 2009