Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day, known as Remembrance Day in the UK and as Armistice Day in France, and this year marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. This is the war in which 19th century officers led charges against 20th century machine guns.  The war wiped out an entire generation of men in Great Britain, not to mention the rest of Europe.  It was called the "War to End All Wars," but a mere 20 years later the world was once again at war, which is where my father Nelson (seen in the photograph on the left with my mother Mary and sister Susan) comes in.  He was a dentist in his mid-thirties when he got the surprise of his life and received a telegram telling him he had been drafted.  This photo was taken the time my mother and sister took the train from Chicago to visit him while he was training near Abilene, Texas, not too long before he shipped out to Okinawa.  Dad was never too crazy about being a dentist, and my mother thinks he secretly enjoyed his time in the army.  I know for a fact he never missed an episode of MASH, and once told me that show was exactly what it was like back in his unit on Okinawa.  Go figure. Happy Veteran's Day everyone.