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Please Thank a Vet
15 November 2016 | by A few day after Veterans Day, I am still awash in the recognition vets received on their special day. In the interest of full disclosure, I spent two years on active duty and four years in the Army Signal Corps Reserve during the Korean War era, which probably doesn’t make me an impartial observer.
In actuality, this story began about ten years ago. I was visiting relatives in Florida and was dispatched to the supermarket to procure a few last-minute items. As I was walking into the store a distinguished looking old timer was heading toward a car with Purple Heart courtesy license plates. (The Purple Heart is presented to United State military personnel who have been wounded in combat.) I walked over to him and put out my hand and said, “thank you for your service and sacrifice, I sincerely appreciate both.” Whereupon he started to cry and said, “I’ve had these plates for ten years and you’re the first person who has every said a word!” In the discussion that followed, he told me he was a Marine who received a serious leg wound while fighting on Iwo Jima. Sixty years later he still walked with a serious limp. He also received the Bronze Star for valor in action. My new-found friend dispatched me with a big hug and an emotional, “thank you.” This chance encounter made my vacation and literally changed my life.
Over the ensuing years, I’ve frequently thought about this WWII hero. I wish I had taken his name and address so I could have remained in contact. It has also reminded me of the vast number of vets who gave their life or years of their life in the service of our country. You may be totally anti-war but in my opinion, even the most avid pacifists owe homage to those who died or were willing to serve to give them the right to protest.
Looking for vets I would simply say, “thank you for your service” and shake their hand if the occasion presented itself. I am especially on the lookout for Viet Nam vets as they were the object of disdain when they came home. People would spit at them and called all types of names. Possible a few acts of kindness now can help erase the pain of their homecoming. When encountering a WWII vet, there aren’t many left, I try and engage them in conversation. If I’m in the check-out line at a convenience store and there is a vet behind me with a container of coffee, I frequently tell the person at the cash register, “take out for the vet’s coffee.”
Don’t be surprised if thanking a vet, or other random acts of kindness, makes you feel better. Knowing you have brought a smile and a good feeling to another human being is a very special thing.
7 Responses to “Please Thank a Vet”
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A touching story. When I see a vet, I thank him or her for their service.
Good for you, Urb. A great story. I too try to say thanks… and more, whenever possible. And as a Nam vet, I too appreciate a kind word. Too many tend to dis vets and the military in general in their all-encompassing quest for world peace, etc.
Urb, W1UL; Thank you. We can never hear that too much. My father may have been the skipper of the LSM that put your young Marine on the beach of Iwo. I, meantime, went Army, including peace-time Korea. And like you, love and honor our Vietnam vets — and all vets. Again — thanks for posting.
Urb,
Thanks for the story. My wife and I were recently in Las Vegas, and I had a ball cap with ARMY on the front of it tucked into my rear waistband. A man overtook us, and said, simply, “You’re a vet.” I nodded, and the guy took my hand, shook it and thanked me for my service. I almost burst into tears. I sure didn’t get that kind of reception upon my return from Asia in ’72.
But, having written that, allow me to add: I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. I don’t recall anyone ever relieving me of that obligation. I’d do it all again.
To all of our honored Veterans:
Thank you each for your service, and all of your sacrifices. Your sacrifices are the reason all of us continue to breathe the sweet air of freedom today. To W1UL, KE0GZT, K4LJA and father, and KK4ZU; I wish to say thank you personally.
I was at the local fair on the day they set aside for veterans wearing a shirt with a Navy Insignia on it. My wife and I were going through cattle barns admiring the 4H kids and their cattle when a young man came up shook my had and said “Thank you sir for your service.” I was dumbfounded and stammered out a thank you young man. As a Viet Nam Vet, it was the second time in 42 years that some one said that and it was a young man who was young enough to be my grandson. Unreal!
A couple of years past. I spotted anoticed an older veteran with a double purple heart plate.I thanked him for his service. He told me I was the first person to thank him. That was a,shock to me.