No matter where you might stand on the political spectrum, veterans give of their lives to be in harms way... and they need to be remembered.
We had a lucky experience with veterans last year. My son, Parke (who is now serving in the Air Force) finished his Eagle Scout project which closed that scouting portion of his life. His project was an interesting one.
We counted 5 men in our neighborhood, still alive, who had served in World War II. And just two blocks away is a place called the Orem Heritage Museum, filled with artifacts that give remembrance of those from the Orem area who served. We were told that the World War II generation was dying off at 2000 individuals a day.
So as a service, Parke videotaped (with the help of his father) each of the 5 men we knew, interviewing them about their experiences with serving in World War II. Then, we would cut this together and sell DVD's on the 4th of July at a local event to raise money for a new TV in the Orem Heritage Museum. They had many other videos to show, but they could opt to show these interviews as well.
What really happened was that Parke's eyes were open to the stories of the danger these men were in. One veteran in particular featured stories surrounding Iwo Jima. This one individual remembers being in a fox hole and hearing each of the men all around getting shot at by the enemy, but noticing he was skipped. After that day, not being a religious man, realized that God had preserved his life, and from then on he gave thanks to God for his survival.
"Freedom" and "Liberty" become the focus for these men. Each of them agreed that young people of today have little understanding of these two words, until they see the enemy of these things square in the eye.
May we all remember and uphold what was fought for.
- POSTED BY KELS GOODMAN
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