Our friend Doug wore his honor consequently in the steel of his clear, blue eyes and the incorruptible straightness of his spine.
But, he neither mentioned nor displayed the medals that honor earned him.
A World War II veteran, he served with distinction in General Patton’s Army. He earned an Oak Leaf Cluster, Victory Medal, American Theater Ribbon, and European, African, Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon with four Bronze Stars, two Overseas Bars, and a Good Conduct Medal.
For most of our long friendship with Doug, we didn’t know any of that. We just knew him to be a hardworking grocery store manager of the Park ‘N Market, a devoted spouse to his beautiful wife Janet, a proud father to three occasionally rambunctious but ultimately successful kids and an exceptionally good neighbor.
“You tell your kids if they ever get scared, they can run right to me,” he told me one day after he’d seen a disturbing story on the news.
We felt lucky to live next door to him, and not just because, in his retirement, he took such excellent care of our lawn. Doug offered us all a living, smiling, dancing, leaf-raking, snow shoveling, neighborhood-watching example of virtue. He was the embodiment of the Greatest Generation.
We assumed modesty kept him from talking about his military experiences and I’m sure that was part of it. But, the truth of Doug’s experiences, and of all wartime veterans, is that they are sometimes so awful they are painful to recall.
Doug once emerged from a foxhole and turned to see his best friend shot and killed in battle. On another occasion, the one that earned him a bronze star, he crawled out of a foxhole to repair a communications line and, “although the area was severely pounded by heavy barrages of hostile artillery fire, he remained steadfastly at his post.”
The freedom our veterans defend comes at a gut-wrenching price.
It behooves us, then, to honor that sacrifice and to celebrate all that its accomplishment allows.
So, here’s to Doug and to every other veteran with gratitude for their service and a pledge to honor the freedom they so bravely defend.
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Laura, have you read, ‘Flags of Our Fathers’? Author James Bradley wrote the book about his father who was a WW2 Vet, and kept all his accolades, following the war in a trunk in the attic. One of the four folks to raise the iconic US Flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima. He was an Appleton / New London native.
I have not read it but if you’re recommending it I definitely will.