Goodbye to a soldier

Today is Memorial Day. Maybe it’s appropriate that I said goodbye to a soldier over the weekend. He was a WWII veteran, one of the thousands who served his country well and quietly. He came home with several awards: the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, American Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the American Service Medal prior to his honorable discharge on Jan. 1, 1946. I don’t remember him ever talking about the war or his medals. He may have reserved that for the American Legion which he was a long and proud member of. I went to a small town in the mountains for the service, where there aren’t too many of his generation, his war left - in fact there might only be one at this point. He was 95 when he died, and besides serving his country, he served his town and his family and friends for the whole 60+ years I’d known him. He was active in his church, the volunteer fire and ambulance departments, a town councilman, and one of the people that others went to for advice on how something to do with the town or a function of it – or something in their life - might be best handled.
He’s one of the thousands that we should thank every day for the life we know – quiet, unassuming, faithful, hard-working men and women who served their country, helped their family, friends, neighbors and just went on about their business. They did what they had to do and moved on to what had to be done next. No fanfare, no expectations, they just did what they saw needed to be done.
Leroy, as the priest said, you’ve ‘changed your residence’. You’ll always be right next door in memory, though. To you and all those like you – Goodbye and Thank You.
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