Memorial Day 2016

I was named Chuck after my Mom's favorite brother. He was captured and killed in a POW camp by Nazis. My Uncle Chuck is always in the front of my mind as I commemorate Memorial Day. I wish I could have known him.
Also, my Dad Virgil was a D-Day veteran, having joined the Allied invasion as a glider infantryman. After three days, he went down from a mortar shell to his back and my odds of being born in 1949 went way up that day. Long shots sometimes come in and Dad survived to meet Mom and spawn an only child five years after battling Hitler's goons.
When Vietnam came along I was in high school and Dad urged me to avoid joining the fight since he had come to believe our family had already given our last full measure. My girl friend agreed. I still feel tingles of regret and guilt about never serving my country.
Uncle Chuck and Dad have my back on that but I have theirs too. Their service lives in my mind and in American history.

Thanks Dad.

Thanks Uncle Chuck.