I Honor You Today Dad

My father served in World War II.   He was a gunner on a Liberty ship.   He was with the Armed Guard, a division of the U. S. Navy.    He served in the Atlantic and the Pacific.    He had to leave his wife and three children to serve our country.    He never talked about his time in the service until the last few years of his life.    He was and should be proud of his Service.    I honor you today Dad.  


Upon my parents passing, we found a large box of correspondence between the two of them while he was at sea.   He sent a lot of V-Mail to Mom and she corresponded by letters.    It gave me goosebumps to read the mail.

My father is buried at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.   This is a picture of the Boy Scouts putting 140,000 flags on the Veteran's grave there.  They do this every year for Memorial Day.   My thoughts are there today for not only my father but all the Veteran's who served our country.   And a special thanks to all the Boy Scouts who give of their time to do this.    It is a breathtaking sight and we appreciate all the work involved in putting the flags up.

I would also like to honor a really good friend of my father's, Bud Abbott, who was also a WWII Vet and is now laid to rest at Willamette National Cemetery.

And I would also like to honor my cousin, Alvin Schmid, who served our country and is laid to rest at Willamette National Cemetery.

And I would also like to honor my nephew, Gene Haun, who is in active service in the U.S. Navy and has to be away from his family for long periods of time.   We love you and appreciate what you are doing for our Country.

Thanks to all who are serving now and who have served our Country in the past.   We Honor You, We Respect You and we are forever grateful for what you have done and are doing for us.