Today is Veteran's Day, first celebrated in 1919 to honor the end of World War I, which concluded on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Back then it was known as Armistice Day, but today this holiday honors all veterans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces. My father Nelson was drafted, to his surprise, during World War II, when he was in his thirties. He served as a dentist on Okinawa towards the end of the war. He hated being a dentist, and my mother told me she thinks he actually liked being in the army, since it was a break from his daily routine. The photograph above of him was taken in the Philippines when he was visiting his brother-in-law (my Uncle Jack), who was serving in the air force. Dad was also trying to find out what happened to his cousin, Adam Boysen, who was captured by the Japanese on Corregidor, survived the Bataan Death March, and who, it was later found out, died when the prison ship transporting American soldiers to Japan was torpedoed by an American submarine. This despite a warning that American soldiers might be on that ship. How sad. And how maddening.
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