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       #Post#: 4616--------------------------------------------------
       Honoring veterans today
   DIR By: agate
       Date: November 12, 2024, 12:41 am
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       VETERANS DAY
       Taking a break in memory of all veterans who served this
       country, including my three brothers, all of whom served in WW2.
       They are gone now and greatly missed.
       I was only a preschooler when that war ended, but I remember
       some thrilling times when one brother or another would be home
       on furlough, and I was impressed by the special hats they wore.
       After the war we were apparently allowed to keep their Army
       blankets, which were brown and somewhat scratchy and had been
       patched in places, but they were the warmest blankets ever and
       very durable.
       Among my earliest toys were some little pins with bars of
       different colors on them. I never knew what those were but the
       bright colors appealed to me.
       Sometimes convoys filled with soldiers went right by our house,
       and I would stand there and wave to them as they went by. Each
       truck was brimful of soldiers, and they would wave back.
       A few years later we moved, and as we were cleaning up the
       house, the duffle bag belonging to my youngest brother turned
       up, forgotten and covered with mildew.
       By that time I had realized that the war that had ended had been
       far more than a warm blanket, colorful pins, extraordinary hats,
       and cheery waves at passing convoys of soldiers.
       By then I had looked into a small book of photographs that had
       been sent to my family from some friends in Germany, friends who
       had been political prisoners during the war. They lived in Kiel
       and had sent this photo book, entitled Kiel: Gestern - Heute -
       Morgen [Kiel: Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow]
       The photographs weren't scenic or attractive at all. Like most
       photographs then, they were black and white. The book showed
       page after page of photos of nothing but rubble. The remains of
       buildings, walls, people's lives.  There were probably some
       photos of construction  to show the rebuilding of Kiel but I
       remember only those of the ruined city.
       My brothers all came back alive. They were among the lucky ones,
       and they lived on into their 80s.
       One was in the Pacific, taking part in the Leyte Landing, and
       one was in Europe, taking part in the Battle of the Bulge. The
       youngest one stayed stateside, and the war was almost over by
       the time he turned 18 and went into the Army.
       I am proud of those brothers.
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