- Fly your flag!
- Call a veteran you want to thank!
- Attend a Veterans Day memorial event!
- Visit a monument or Armed Forces museum
- Read books, articles, or other accounts of American history that focus on the bravery and sacrifice of Americans in uniform over two and a half centuries.
- Play patriotic music!
- Pray for the men and women who continue to serve faithfully, many in harm's way.
- IF YOU'RE A TEACHER, PARENT, OR GRANDPARENT. . . help educate young people about the meaning of this holiday. It was originally Armistice Day, signalling the end of World War I. Now it has been broadened to honor our soldiers in all wars.
My father, Marvin E. Loyd, was 5 years old when World War I ended in 1919. Camp Gordon in Atlanta covered many square miles around his home and his family's Sunrise Dairy helped supply the troops. Soldiers walked the road in front of his house all day, every day. Sometimes they'd toss him a penny. He still has his collection of over 100 of those Indian head pennies. One of Daddy's earliest and most vivid memories is from that first Armistice Day. He recalls his father walking him up the road to his grandparents house (see Mystery at the Loyd Homeplace). As they approached he saw his Grandma and Grandpa Loyd pouring free cups of apple cider from pitchers for all the passing soldiers, most of whom were on horseback.
Two decades later, Daddy would be called to serve his country in World War II. Now, 63 years later, he still sees participating in that epic struggle as a defining moment in his life. My Veterans Day posts are dedicated to Daddy, other members of "The Greatest Generation," and the hundreds of thousands who are serving even today.
Daddy was the only veteran at his World War II Air Force reunion who could still wear his dress uniform jacket.
Below, Daddy with Bert Lok, who has organized seven of these reunions over the last decade and a half. In the war, Daddy was a flight chief in charge of four P-47 Thunderbolts and Lok was one of his crew chiefs. They went through thick and thin together and in their stressful situations tempers could flare. Daddy's flight members, in a play on the phrase "load, lock, and commence firing," came up with own version: "Loyd, Lok, and start firing!" These two are still as close as brothers.
Wicked Wabbit is one of two P-47 Thunderbolts housed at the Tennessee Aviation Museum. Both are flown frequently (there are only four or five in the whole U.S. that are air-worthy) by pilots Neal Melton (founder of the museum) and John Shoffner. These are two great guys who appreciate what our veterans have done.
Below, some of Daddy's closest wartime buddies from the "Orange Tails" fighter group.
Judy and I were privileged to attend the last reunion at Sevierville, Tennessee along with Mama and Daddy, my brother Buddy, and my sister Caryn. This photo is from the closing banquet, a very moving occasion.
As they said in the war, "Keep 'em flyin'!" And do something to make this year's Veterans Day memorable.
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