This morning I was in Walmart when I saw an old man with a WW-2 cap on.He was very old and feeble. He was using one of those Walmart scooters. I approached him and thanked him for his service. I could tell he was once a tall, vibrant, young man who once fought in combat for his country. Now he is barely a shadow of himself some 75 years ago.
When I thanked him for his service I could see his skin was so thin I could see the skull bones below. His left cheek and over his eye was all black and blue from a recent fall. There an estimated 400,000 WW-2 vets still alive out of 16,000,000. Those left are for the most part also feeble now. I rarely see any WW-2 vets here, even Korean war vets are few that I see. We Vietnam vets are old and dying at this point.
I was in the checkout line when a woman came by to tell the checker there was an old man who had fallen down in the exit area. I instantly knew that it was the man I had just met. I left Joyce with the cart and headed in that direction. By the time I got there there were several people there helping the old vet. They had him up and back in the scooter. I could see the left eye and cheek bone were again cut and had dried blood on them. The employees wanted to call a doctor for him, but he like the warrior he once was refused. I went back to get Joyce and by the time we were exiting I saw the employees were helping the old warrior into the back seat of a car in the handicapped area.
When I saw the old man with the new cuts on his face and him being loaded into the seat of that car I had to choke back the tears. As I relay the story now, I am still holding back tears. So many WW-2 honorable men, Korean war honorable men and Vietnam war honored men are dying. It just saddens me. I know the majority of WW-2 and Korean vets are at the age when one would expect them to die, but after what they have been through it still hurts me.
I have tried to do a thought experiment to figure out who in which war had things worse, but the answer evades me. What I feel I can safely say is that while WW-2 and Korean vets had extremely icy cold winters to endure, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan vets have had equally harsh summer heat to contend with. When a man is on the front line in any war it's the worst war. Every day they wake up on the front and wonder if this day is their last and that they may die thousands of miles away from home in some dirt or sand pile as they wonder why are they there instead of someone else?
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
When I thanked him for his service I could see his skin was so thin I could see the skull bones below. His left cheek and over his eye was all black and blue from a recent fall. There an estimated 400,000 WW-2 vets still alive out of 16,000,000. Those left are for the most part also feeble now. I rarely see any WW-2 vets here, even Korean war vets are few that I see. We Vietnam vets are old and dying at this point.
I was in the checkout line when a woman came by to tell the checker there was an old man who had fallen down in the exit area. I instantly knew that it was the man I had just met. I left Joyce with the cart and headed in that direction. By the time I got there there were several people there helping the old vet. They had him up and back in the scooter. I could see the left eye and cheek bone were again cut and had dried blood on them. The employees wanted to call a doctor for him, but he like the warrior he once was refused. I went back to get Joyce and by the time we were exiting I saw the employees were helping the old warrior into the back seat of a car in the handicapped area.
When I saw the old man with the new cuts on his face and him being loaded into the seat of that car I had to choke back the tears. As I relay the story now, I am still holding back tears. So many WW-2 honorable men, Korean war honorable men and Vietnam war honored men are dying. It just saddens me. I know the majority of WW-2 and Korean vets are at the age when one would expect them to die, but after what they have been through it still hurts me.
I have tried to do a thought experiment to figure out who in which war had things worse, but the answer evades me. What I feel I can safely say is that while WW-2 and Korean vets had extremely icy cold winters to endure, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan vets have had equally harsh summer heat to contend with. When a man is on the front line in any war it's the worst war. Every day they wake up on the front and wonder if this day is their last and that they may die thousands of miles away from home in some dirt or sand pile as they wonder why are they there instead of someone else?
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
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