Not Your Grandpa's Veterans' Day

Two of my three grandfathers were World War II veterans. Both of the Husband's grandfathers were veterans -- and his maternal grandfather is probably the Text Book Veteran. Granjim, as we all call him, signed up for the armed forces just days after Pearl Harbor. He fought nearly every major battle in the European Theatre --- the Battle of the Bulge, the Invasion of Normandy, the Battle of Hurtgen Forrest -- and he was one of the American soldiers who marched down the Champs E'lysse to liberate Paris. He came back to the States, received a college education, and became a pastor. He later would fight other battles -- battles to help white moderate Christian Southerners to understand that civil rights are a moral imperative and battles against closed-minded fundamentalism that threatened the goodness of his church and university. Granjim does not tell his war stories brashly or openly, but at the request of his grandchildren, he will humbly begin to talk -- and we all sit and listen and savor stories in his voice -- the voice of what Brokaw called the Greatest Generation.

So, my whole life, when I have thought of Veteran's Day, I have thought of my grandfathers and those like them who embodied the Greatest Generation spirit. But, last night over dinner at Oya, I realized that Veteran's Day is not just about the Greatest Generation or about those in my parents' generation who were drafted into an unfair war. It is also about a younger generation of Americans who have made the ageless choice to dedicate their lives to the service of our country. I had dinner last night at Oya with a friend from the midwest who owns her her law practice. She is attractive, funny, successful, and great to share a drink or dinner with (she also is great to share shopping tips with, but I digress). She is also an Army Wife and her husband will be leaving again soon for a year in the middle east. As we talked about who she will hire to help her with her twin eight year old girls, how she will keep up a busy travel schedule serving her clients with her husband being gone, and where she will travel for the only two weeks next year that they will be able to see him, I realized that Veteran's day is also about people like her and her husband -- modern families who have dedicated their lives to the service of our country. It is also about the generation of people who have been killed over the last decade in the wars since 9/11. Texas in Africa makes a trip every year to Arlington Cemetery to honor her friend and graduate school classmate from Yale, Ken Miller. It is about the Chef's sister, who fought in the middle east and is still coping with the psychological fall out. It is about the new employee at my mother's office who had trouble finding a job when he returned home from Iraq because businesses in our country refused to hire him because of the shrapnel in his leg. And, there are countless others.

If I could organize a parade, I would. But, instead, I just say to all the veterans and families of veterans, Happy Veterans' Day from a grateful citizen. Your sacrifices make it possible for us all to enjoy the Good Life.