What Is A Veteran?

[Pennie 26]

WHAT IS A VETERAN?

 

You can't tell a veteran just by looking. He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating 2 gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

 

He is the barroom loud-mouth whose frat-boy behavior is outweighed in the cosmic scales by four hours of unparalleled bravery near the 38th Parallel in Korea.

 

She is the nurse who fought against futility in Da Nang and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years.

 

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another.

 

He is the white-haired old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket, aggravatingly slow, who helped liberate a Nazi death camp.

 

A Veteran is an ordinary and extraordinary human being who offered his life's most vital years in the service of his country. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. We will never be able to repay the debt of gratitude we owe.

 

Here's something about one of our greatest veterans. In fact, the most decorated soldier in the history of the United States! Remembering Audie Murphy - Our Country's Most Decorated Hero

 

On this Veteran's Day, it would be appropriate to remember Our Country's Most Decorated Hero, Audie Murphy.

 

Audie Leon Murphy, son of poor Texas sharecroppers, rose to national fame as the most decorated U.S. combat soldier of World War II. Among his 33 awards and decorations was the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military award for bravery that can be given to any individual in the United States of America, for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty." He also received every decoration for valor that his country had to offer, some of them more than once, including 5 decorations by France and Belgium. Credited with either killing over 240 of the enemy while wounding and capturing many others, he became a legend within the 3rd Infantry Division. Beginning his service as an Army Private, Audie quickly rose to the enlisted rank of Staff Sergeant, was given a "battle field" commission as 2nd Lieutenant, was wounded three times, fought in 9 major campaigns across the European Theater, and survived the war. During Murphy's 3 years active service as a combat soldier in World War II, Audie became one of the best fighting combat soldiers of this or any other century. What Audie accomplished during this period is most significant and probably will never be repeated by another soldier, given today's high-tech type of warfare. The U.S. Army has always declared that there will never be another Audie Murphy. After the war, Audie became a successful actor, starring in a number of major films, including "To Hell and Back", the true story of his military career, where he portrayed himself.

 

VETERANS DAY (by Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC)

 

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

 

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

 

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

 

It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.