To Our Veterans Thank You For Your Service

[Tricia]

Today is Veteran's Day

A public holiday held on the anniversary of the end of World War 1 (November 11) to honor US veterans. It replaced Armistice Day in 1954 all this according to Google.

It would be nice for us to post memories or current stories we have of loved ones who served.

Let's try and make this a very long thread OK? Please post on FB, Twitter, heck go knock on your neighbor's door. Get them to post ANYTHING YOU CAN DO so we can let veterans who read here know how much we appreciate them.

My dad served during WWII and after.

He was stationed in Britain and while he didn't see any combat he did see the devastation of the war.

He was a handsome blonde haired blue eyed guy who looked like he came straight out of Hitler's mind as the ideal looking human.

Which is why he was tapped right after the war to be stationed in Berlin with the OSS, Office of Strategic Services, which is now the CIA. While with the OSS he learned to speak German fluently.

Dad took his oath of secrecy seriously. He told us exactly three things about his years with the OSS

1 -The government put up all the agents in a beautiful mansion and they had great parties there on the weekend.

2 - He once had to put some pictures in an envelope under a bush for someone to pick up

3 - He once was told to meet up with a fellow agent in a park. The fellow agent turned out to be a double agent. Dad had instructions to bring him in and if he tried to run kill him. The agent never met up with dad. Somehow he got word that he had been found out and vanished.

That's it. No matter how we begged that is all he felt he could ever tell us.

My mom was also stationed in Germany for the British government. She worked on decoding secret messages. She would say this like she was talking about meeting with a sewing circle. She never knew how cool it sounded to us.

One Saturday night during their weekly party at the mansion my dad saw my mom across the room. She was on the arm of a General. He turned to his friend and said, "I'm going to marry that beautiful woman". He did.

When the OSS refused to let my mom join because she hadn't been an American citizen for 10 years my dad quit. So sure the OSS would fall apart without him.

After 7 years in Berlin, mom and dad left to come to America where they had a boy and a bratty obnoxious girl who would someday grow up to be bratty and obnoxious but the owner of this forum.

Please, share your veterans stories with us?

 

[bigjohndough]

Thanks for sharing , Great story !
I just joined this forum last night.
My sister Debbie was murdered 39 years ago. it remained a cold case open tr arrest a short time ago.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article93730047.html I found your site and now I'm learning how it works .. Best Regards, Brian

 

[Bohemian]

11/11 is also Remembrance Day in Australia. At 11 am the nation pauses for one minute to remember not only those servicemen and women from WWI but all conflicts.

'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.'

The Ode​

Lest We Forget.

 

[Tawny]

 

[katydid23]

WE owe them all a big debt of gratitude. It is quite a sacrifice. And we need to start treating them so much better when they return in need of mental and physical health treatments and financial rewards.

:star: :rose: :star:

 

[Jax49]

Honoring my late father-in-law. He served as a tank commander during the 2nd world war after landing on D-Day. He received our nation's second highest honor and was twice personally decorated by Charles de Gaulle.

He stayed in Germany for two years after the war ended, driving heavy equipment in the process to clean out the concentration camps.

The memories of the camps never left him--as brave a man as he was he had nightmares for the remainder of his life.

Honoring all the fallen and desiring we honor our current warriors by treating them as they deserve.