Since September 11, 2001, 1,000,000 American kids have answered the call.
Today, November 11, 2016 the mainstream media is focusing on a few kids who are protesting the outcome of the presidential election in their safe spaces.
I prefer to honor those 1,000,000 men and women who have sacrificed and experienced unimaginable horrors to protect our American way of life that gives those of us who are ridiculing the protesting kids from our own safe places the right to do so.
I recently had the privileged of beginning to get to know one of those young men, Staff Sergeant (Ret) Matthew O’Neil. Matt is the eldest son of my friend Rick O’Neil, the Mayor-elect of Highlands.
Veteran Don Manrodt of Highlands. Not Sal or Mike.
On this Veterans Day, two men who have made an impression on me are on my mind.
Sal was a WWII Vet. His son Mike was my best friend in the 1970’s. Sal was a blue collar guy who worked two jobs to provide a better life for his sons than he had.
One afternoon, Mike and I were heading upstairs in his house to get something from his room. We had to be quiet Mike warned because his father was sleeping before heading off to his night job. As we quietly walked past Sal’s room, a loud blood curdling scream emerged from the room. I could hear the bed shaking. Then just as suddenly, quiet.
I was startled. Frightened really. Mike was embarrassed. “Is he alright? Should we call the police?” I asked Mike. “Its OK,” Mike said, “he does that all the time. Please don’t tell anyone,” as if it was something to be ashamed of.
It had been 30 years since Sal returned from war. He hadn’t, perhaps, had a good nights sleep in those thirty years. PTSD was not a thing yet. But Sal’s suffering was real. He sucked it up and went to work twice a day to provide for his family.
On Veterans’ Day, we honor all the men and women who have protected our country and fought for our way of life.
Photographer’s Mate 2nd class Joseph Sharp aboard the USS Forrestal in 1978
Today, I would like to especially thank the Vets of the post-Viet Nam era.
One of my most vivid memories from growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s was watching Mr. Hayes, a tough man and a Vet in my neighborhood, bawling his eyes out as his eldest son went off to Viet Nam. His son came home two years later, but he was different. There was no parade, as the war was still on and increasingly controversial. The younger Hayes was angry and seemingly damaged.
With pictures of casualties on the evening news every night, news of William Calley’s My Lai Massacre trial, the Kent State shootings and protests throughout the country, and witnessing how veterans of Viet Nam had come home changed, military service and the draft was feared by many. Young men went to college, got married and had children or fled to Canada to avoid being drafted into the war. Read the rest of this entry »
November 11 is the day every year since 1919 when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Armistice Day.
In proclaiming the holdiay, Wilson said:
“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with lots of pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”
On Sunday evening, November 14, Monmouth County has a special opportunity to honor and support one of our own. The family and friends of Army Spc Brendan Morocco will be hosting a Benefit Diner at the Shore Casino in Atlantic Highlands.
On Easter Sunday April 12, 2009 while returning from a night mission in Iraq, Brendan was severely injured when his vehicle sustained a direct hit aby an explosive fired projectile. He lost both arms and legs and his carotid artery was severed.
The proceeds of the event will assist Brendan by supplementing the cost of his care, medical treatment and extraordinary expenses in continually improving the quality of his life, now and in the future, including adaptive housing.
The event starts at 3PM and goes until 8PM. There will be dinner, entertainment and a silent auction. The cost is $70 per person.
If you would like to attend, or make a donation, contact Diane Carnes at 732-389-4320 or Diane.Carnes @ MACB-ESI.com or Jean Marrocco at 732-290-0637 or JMARROCCO @ AOL.com
Since September 11, 2001, 1,000,000 American kids have answered the call.
