Letter to the Editor

Veteran remembers sacrifices of those before him

Friday, November 13, 2009

To the Editor:

It's easy to get excited about Veteran's Day for me, as I myself am a veteran.

Because I am a veteran does not leave me exempt from appreciating the sacrifices that the soldiers that walked in boots before me made -- it actually means a little more.

It's because of WWI and WWII veterans (some of which are my family members) Americans were given a new sense of pride.

It's because of the mistreatment of Vietnam and Gulf War veterans that I am able to receive the benefits of the G.I Bill, VA healthcare, and other recovery options needed when returning home from war.

You see, Nov. 11 is a day of recognition for heroes that stood up when others wouldn't. When others stayed in their homes while soldiers slept in foxholes, in sandy crypts, or 7-foot by 15-foot connex boxes.

While Americans worked their 9-5's, we worked ours, nine in the morning to five in the morning ... sometimes seven days a week.

While you read your children bedtime stories by their bedsides and prayed with them, I read mine in front of a video camera that recorded it on DVD (a luxury) and prayed that it got home and I would stay alive one more night.

Generations have sacrificed for you to live the way you do.

So today, I ask you to not only remember the veterans of our beloved military but, to remember their sacrifices and their families sacrifices for they too are truly veterans of war.

Staff Sgt.

Christopher McFadden

Danville