A Belated Veterans Day Thought

[nofearengineer]

On Veteran's Day I was going through some of the stuff my Dad left to me, and I came across one of those ribbon things the military puts on their left chest of their dress uniforms that shows their awards and campaigns they served in.

It was yellow with red stripes on it, and after some research, I found out that it was for serving in Viet Nam. It was really neat, visualizing it pinned on his uniform some 40 years ago, when I was still too small for even a Snoopy fishing rod. And it also made me think a lot about how even though my Dad was a big hippie, and probably hated everything about Viet Nam, he must have been proud of his service to keep that.

Oddly enough, my Dad didn't get drafted...he joined the Army right before Viet Nam to piss off his control-freak mother. Angry young men can be so dumb. I guess I have that little argument to thank for my existence though, since he lived in California, and got stationed near Indiana where my mother grew up.

My Dad passed away this January, and his army photos and souvenirs really lent a personal touch to this Veterans Day. Anyways, thanks Dad, for your service.

[WaffleJaw]

Man I know how much those personal keep sakes can help you through a tough time,or bring the smile of remembrance back across the face.
Sorry to hear about your Dad Nofear..Its nice to hold those items and remember them.....I bet it felt good to remember.......I do it quite often.
I lost my brother June 27th 2008...He was 28 and also my closest friend.....After his accident is when I became obessed with fishing,strange how that works,huh?......When I was going through his stuff I found this renaissance looking cat doll...I mean velvet clothing,glass head / hands..It looks like a musketeer...completely ridiculous looking...Ive never seen it before and cried from laughing so hard...My brother was a huge cat enthusiast...and a huge stoner,haha....It was the most beautiful thing i ever saw...haha.
That cat doll sits on top of my bass rig at every show we play now.

sorry that has nothing to do with Veteran's day...It was just nice to talk about it

[3dkicker]

Isn't amazing how things happen. I just got an email with a link to an article about my Uncle and his brothers (whole family actually) and their military service. He had six brothers serve in WWII....yes, six. He served during the Korean war but never got sent over seas. His father passed away and while he was home he got the measles and couldn't rejoin his unit until he was well. During that time his unit got shipped out. Turns out they all were killed in battle in an ambush. If he had gone I'd never been able to spend time fishing with him.
I'm surprised I've never heard his military history or his families. He loves to fish and we've spent time fishing together. He's talked about serving in Newport News, VA but never told me about his families military history.

[1/4 stick]

I always get sort of sad around this time of year NoFear. We lost our father Nov. 5 1999. He went in for a triple bipass and went into cardiac arrest a couple nights later. Took them 20 minutes to get his heart started again and that was a too long without oxygen to his brain. We waited the three days to see if there was any brain activity. But I could feel that he'd gone on to be with granddaddy and grandma from the first time I visited him afterwards. Hard to explain, but I just couldn't feel daddy there. We all gathered around him as they shut the machines off and we let him go. I can't even begin to express how much I loved my old man, seems like it should have been a harder decision to let him go. But I knew he won't there anymore, not in the living sense anyway.

Anyhoo.. I was sitting around noodling on the guitar last year after going through some of his pics from his escapades during ww2 and I stumbled on a lick that sort of sounded the way I felt. Made a litlle slide show and put that to it. It actually made me feel a bit better. I've posted the link here before, but I'm an attention *****, so I'll post it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VUsrpne-4s

[bcklash]

After reading your posts guys, I went got the flag that was over my dads casket and started to cry a little bit, so I called my sister and we began chatting and remembering the good times. This thread helped me alot. Thanks guys.
Daddy passed away in May of 2008, we actually buried him on his 74th birthday.

[1/4 stick]

(opps, sorry Kevin. )


My father was 73 when he passed. His birthday is in may too. Do you ever catch yourself doing things to your kids that your dad used to do that you hated and swore you'd never do to your kids? My old man had a habit of wistling at us kids when wanted us and we were across the yard. Drove me nuts, told him more than once that I won't one of his bird dogs. And got told as long as I got fed I'd be old yeller if he got the notion. lol Sure enough one day I was out side tilling a flower bed for my ex wife and my son started to take off behind the house where I couldn't see him, my bottom lip got tight, my teeth pressed against them, and out came the dog wistle. hahaha...

[bcklash]

Yes indeed my dad would whistle for us and I done it to my kids.

[1/4 stick]

lol, ahh those was the good old days. You should have seen the confusion when we'd go hunting though. Pop would wistle and me and the dogs would just look at eachother sort of dumbfounded wondering who he wanted.

[bcklash]

rotflmao-what a picture

[bamabassman]

Hahahaha, and stick. Bet you and the dog went running to ol dad too huh? My dad would jsut say "HEY BOY!" Me and my brother would say together "YES SIR, COMING NOW DAD!" Run our butts of to get to him. Then he would say he wanted just one of us. The good ol days for sure. Love ol pop.