Thank you Maine Veterans (Bangor, Brewer: home, live, car)

[Maineah]

Today being Veteran's Day I'd like to invite everyone to say thank you to all of our Maine Veterans for their service to our country. We are free thanks to you. Thank You!

[cebdark]

Thank you all for your service.

[Submariner]

Thank you!

I was at the parade today in Brewer-Bangor, they had a nice turnout. A Beautiful day for a parade! Sunny, clear and a gentile breeze made for a very nice day.

It seemed like there were many vets in the crowd watching the parade too.

[Kiwiluver]

Thanks to all veterans! A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Thanks for the kind thoughts. 40 years ago today I was in the Mekong Delta flying Huey gun ships. We were 24 hours on and 24 hours off. I have my old log books. Around this time on 11/11/70 we scrambled on a mission. We came back to hot rearm and refuel. We didn't shut down to rearm or refuel. I flew six more missions at night and into the day on 11/12/70. We must have kicked the hornet's nest that night.

After 40 years the missions tend to blend together except for the ones you will never ever forget. Time tonight to kick back, have a glass of wine and remember my friends from back then.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Thanks for the kind thoughts. 40 years ago today I was in the Mekong Delta flying Huey gun ships. We were 24 hours on and 24 hours off. I have my old log books. Around this time on 11/11/70 we scrambled on a mission. We came back to hot rearm and refuel. We didn't shut down to rearm or refuel. I flew six more missions at night and into the day on 11/12/70. We must have kicked the hornet's nest that night.

After 40 years the missions tend to blend together except for the ones you will never ever forget. Time tonight to kick back, have a glass of wine and remember my friends from back then.

I'll toast you myself today (day late but what the hey?) at Amvets Post#2 in Yarmouth at 4:00 PM. Thank you sir!

[BrokenTap]

Yesterday was Veterans Day, and as such I wrote the following letter to my father's best friend. I think it conveys a lot about today's holiday, and the gratitude we owe our veterans.

Dear Butch,

I know you remember that day well, 38 summers ago standing in the rice patty with my father as you heard the thud of a bullet hitting a body. Nanoseconds later you heard the rifle report and for a split second you and my father knew one of you had been hit, but was not sure which one. Unfortunately it was you.

You never returned to the United States again, even though you made it through boot camp, became best friends with my Dad and did two tours of duty in Vietnam. To die three days before your return home hardly seems fair.

The Survivor Guilt is deep within my dad, even now, but he picked himself up by his boot laces and did well these past 38 years. He has used his medic training to save two lives, doing tracheotomy’s on the side of the road to save car accident victims. He also opened his home to hundreds of foster children, had three children of his own and adopted six more. He’s done some good despite the memories of Vietnam.

The sad thing is, I will never know your real name. Dad never talks about Vietnam and it is too painful to ask what your real name is. Butch is all I will ever know.

I have touched your name once though, on the wall in Washington, DC. I was too small to remember the name, but small enough so that I could be put on my Uncles shoulders and rub your name with chalk onto a piece of paper as Dad cried…really cried. I had never seen my Dad cry before, but of all the names…one name…your name…touched him the most.

Despite 38 years of silence, one thing needs to be said. Not from my Dad, but from me Butch. Thanks for taking that bullet for my Dad.

Written by me; a Son of a Disabled Vietnam Veteran

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Thanks, Broken Tap. War affects families. The only thing worse than war for its own sake is peace at any cost.

[Kiwiluver]

Thanks Broken Tap, you brought tears to my eyes.