Veterans Day!

Today is Veterans Day, which honors all who have served their country in the United States Armed Forces. In other countries this holiday is known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, and commemorates the end of World War I. That particularly horrible war ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month back in 1918.  My father Nelson was drafted in (I think)1944 at the ripe old age of 35 and served as a dentist on Okinawa.  He can be seen in the photograph above standing in front of an air force plane named Star Eyes.  This photo was taken when he visited my Uncle Jack (my mother Mary's brother), who was serving in the air force in the Philippines.  In addition to visiting Uncle Jack, my father also was trying to find out what happened to his first cousin, Adam Boysen, who was captured by the Japanese and forced to endure the Bataan Death March.  It turned out that Adam survived the death march, was put on a ship to Japan, along with other prisoners, and killed, along with most of the others, when it was torpedoed by an American submarine.  I think they call that friendly fire these days. Let's face it - war is horrible, even necessary ones.