This link will connect you to 10 Lessons learned from a janitor.
http://www.cwoauscg.org/history/history_janitor.htm
Some veterans/heroes bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain haunted look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg – – – or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s alloy forged in the refinery of adversity .Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.
You can’t tell a vet/hero just by looking.He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She – or he – is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in DaNang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another – or didn’t come back at all.
He is the Quantico drill instructor that has never seen combat – but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket – palsied now and aggravatingly slow – who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say “Thank You.” That’s all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot, “THANK YOU”.
A Thankful Thanksgiving
The America we witness today has seen much sacrifice
This sacrifice for many, has meant a total giving of life for liberty
Do all truly realize what the human cost of freedom is
All citizens should understand what has kept us whole
Should it not be the duty of each American to know this
To become familiar with the reasons of why we exist today
The notion that “that’s the way things are” is ludicrous
When a firm explanation is so easily understood
We’ve survived because of faith, determination, and great sacrifice
The backbone of this country is the strength of its good citizens
Each true American is worth more than all the gold found in history
Selfishness does not rule their home, nor does it drive their thought
And don’t just look at our military as a magnificent force
Rather look at each member of our soldiered family with pride
“Ready, willing, and able” have been the finest of each generation
Whether in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other place of danger
Whenever an American military presence moves into action
Behold the continuation of an outstanding tradition
Formed through freedom, it bravely faces all adversaries
And the flag under which it stands will always fly in freedom
We are and always will be one nation under God
He is the strength we have turned to time and time again
If we did not have Him, we would have perished long ago
God Bless America is more than a song, it is our national prayer
Finally, I wish each fine American a thankful Thanksgiving Day
May you truly realize what we are, and pray to Almighty God for continuation
Be ever thankful for our Armed Forces, and give them the total support they need
And please pray for all American families who have paid the price for freedom
©2002,2005Roger J. Robicheau
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/thanksgiving/poems-rhymes/a-thankful-thanksgiving.html
Veteran’s Day Tribute When America had an urgent need,
These brave ones raised a hand;
No hesitation held them back;
They were proud to take a stand. They left their friends and family;
They gave up normal life;
To serve their country and their God,
They plowed into the strife. They fought for freedom and for peace
On strange and foreign shores;
Some lost new friends; some lost their lives
In long and brutal wars. Other veterans answered a call
To support the ones who fought;
Their country had requirements for
The essential skills they brought. We salute each and every one of them,
The noble and the brave,
The ones still with us here today,
And those who rest in a grave. So here’s to our country’s heroes;
They’re a cut above the rest;
Let’s give the honor that is due
To our country’s very best.
By Joanna Fuchshttp://www.poemsource.com/patriotic-poems.html
When you see Old Glory waving in a breeze, When you hear the silence amongst the trees,
When you,to sleep, you lay your head ,
Your dreams can be happy, not filled with dread.
When you gaze upon a starlit night
And are not filled with constant fright
Because across the sky a star is streaking
And not a missile or mortar shell is shrieking.
When in your streets car horns are blowing
Instead of fires from bombs are glowing
When the sound of sirens means help is near
Instead “hide until all is clear!”
When a wreath is placed in Pearl Harbor
For those still entombed in the water.
When veterans cry remembering this
And all the friends, forever, they’ll miss.
When no one speaks while at “The Wall”
Where tears come freely to the small and tall.
Know that group of veterans wouldn’t quit,
Even though Americans upon them did spit.
When young ones ask about the flags
Placed gracefully over cemetery tags.
You tell them that veterans answered the call,
To keep us safe, one and all.
When a lump in your throat rises as “Taps” is played,
And a loved one, to rest, is laid.
This veteran’s sacrifice did ensure,
That America’s freedom would endure.
We honor our veterans because for their own reasons, they chose to serve this country.
We honor them because without them, this country wouldn’t be what it is today.
It may not be perfect, but there isn’t a greater place on Earth to live.
Author:
Ezra W. Sides
MMC(SW), USN(Retired)
11/09/05
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