[Yoda]

Thanks also to Yoda for your service to our Country. It shaped who you are today.

As have countless thousands of Americans before and after me, I gave time...four years (1966-70). In the same period and in what would become a controversial and divisive war, many gave much more...their lives. Young Americans today are making the same sacrifice.

For me, my Dad set the example 25 years earlier. In 1941, on the eve of World War II, he graduated from Texas A&M in its Reserve Officer Training program and joined the Army Air Corps (later to become the U.S. Air Force). He earned his commission, married and almost immediately shipped out overseas.

Over the next four years, he served in campaigns from Northern Africa to Sicily to Normandy. He returned in 1945 after victory in Europe...and Baby Yoda made his appearance a year later.

Dad died in 2001, and I was faced with the challenge of writing his obituary and delivering his eulogy. Fortunately, he had penned a rough draft of his own several years earlier -- good ol' Dad! -- and I used many of his 'line items' as a guide for my own. I was also charged with assembling his personal effects and distributing them to the family.

As I dug through the files, I came across his war diaries. They chronicled his years away from home, and almost every day had an entry. Some pages dealt with the often routine existence of a soldier in wartime, but others were so personal that, with tears welling, I simply had to turn them unread. I felt an intruder into his innermost thoughts, and in respect, I could only leave them to himself.

I also came upon an untitled file containing documentation of a commendation he had received, along with a small, nondescript blue box. I opened the box and found the Bronze Star Medal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Star_Medal

How could Dad have forgotten to mention the Bronze Star Medal in his own obituary draft?

The truth is he didn't forget. With so many of his comrades lost, he may have felt unworthy, but he didn't forget. He had done his duty, and that was enough.

A mighty proud son I was then.

And on this Veterans Day 2007...

A mighty proud son I am now.