Yesterday, DILIT and I were sitting on folding chairs alongside the road in Woodsville, NH, enjoying the 4th of July parade. Along with the North Haverhill County Fair later this month, we have made this one of our family traditions. Both get to the soul of small town America, where normalcy mostly remains.
We were sitting along side an older couple – well, older than 29 and younger than me. The guy and I traded quips and comments during the parade. At the end of the parade, he said that he guessed I had been in the military at some point. I affirmed and noted that it had been 50 years ago, 1970-76. At that he shook my hand, thanked me for my service, said that he had not served, but then handed me a challenge coin.
I knew about challenge coins, but they didn’t really come about until after my time. When I got home, I examined it and noted the back side.
I smiled because that is exactly what I told one of Red, Jr.’s high school friends before he headed off to Parris Island. It also fit in with what I had been thinking about.
On 4th of July Eve, I reread the Declaration of Independence. The Founders pledged “their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor”. And I wanted to know how many Americans had pledged and given their lives since the Declaration.
Approximately 1.3 million. Written like that it looks like a statistic. Write it as 1,300,000, and it starts to take hold. That number is more than the population of each of 8 of the United States.
Compared to our current population of some 330,000,000, that number is almost a rounding error. As a number, yes. As a measure of what was given, no American soldier’s life is a rounding error.
KatNap Fever! 
This is probably my favorite post so far…when we travel, we often visit military cemeteries just to walk and say thank you…one of our annual traditions is to participate in Wreaths Across America every December. It is a very moving experience, and especially touching to see parents/adults teaching little ones the stories, the history, and explaining why this is so important. We go to different cemeteries each year, this year will be Cold Harbor, where both of our ancestors fought and survived. Once in the South, we will go to Andersonville, where I’ll be able to lay the wreath myself on my great great grandfather’s stone.
Thank you for this post….
LikeLike
There are very few countries that care about their veterans and those who fell in battle. I am thrilled that America continues to be one of them.
The recent rescue of a single pilot shot down over Iran is a perfect example of this cultural axiom. We spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the rescue, and most people I have discussed it with feel that it was money well spent!
That makes me proud.
LikeLike