MY VETERAN'S DAY

Today is Veteran’s Day, a memorial for all who have served our country in the armed forces, especially in a time  of conflict.

  (ex) Soldier boy Jan 1946

and

Copy of final papers

I can not believe that it was70 years ago today having missed Holland because the Brits were to slow to capture a bridge that I was still in England; six weeks later I was in knee deep snow in the Ardennes in what is known as the Battle of the Bulge.

As a doctor I was theoretically a noncombatant. Unfortunately bullets, shells and bombs as well as a few nasty people did not understand that. An officer was an officer and the Red Cross insignia on a helmet made an additional good target point.

I was also fortunate to acquire a German solder as a prisoner shortly after our glider touched down inside Germany on the east bank of the Rhine. (3/24/45). But that is a story I have previously told.

Above all, I was able to spend some time to enjoy the ruins of Berlin and the Russians; as well as a six week interval as acting “Chief of the VD service” in the only American Army Hospital inside Paris.

Hitler's Chancery Berlin Sept 1945

For 18 months I missed my wife, my oldest daughter, and one that was almost a year old before I first saw her.

Best of all, today I am posting this blog.

Please respect all who have served in the armed forces whether it was in combat or any post far from danger. All have done the duty to their country that befell them. Only a very few had a choice.  Without them we would not have the freedoms, which alas may still be imperfect at times, that we enjoy.