Both of my Grandfathers were military men. My mom's dad (Grandpa) was a career Navy man and served in the Korean War. My dad's dad (Grandaddy) was an MP in the Marines, got Malaria twice while stationed overseas, and was the toughest man I've ever known. Both served in WWII.
I always loved to listen to my Grandfathers tell stories of their days serving for our country. Grandpa was a poor farm boy from West Virginia who lied about his age to enlist in the Navy. Never knowing when his next meal would come, he thought the Navy was the best thing that ever happened to him with 3 hot meals a day and a place to rest. What more could a poor, hungry teenager ask for? He loved the Navy and served for more than 20 years.
Grandaddy would tell stories about when he would have to go into bars after curfew and pull out all the drunk Marines. He was tough as nails. In fact, he never disciplined his children for fear that he would forget they were just kids and not insubordinate Marines.
Both of my Grandfathers have passed. But their stories remain alive in their wives and their children. Neither ever served on the front lines of war, but knew many of the men who did. They both talked somberly of those that gave up their lives for the freedom of this nation and the freedom of those on foreign soil.
As a child listening to their stories of war, I am sure that they left out the gory details and talked of romantic memories about their military days. As an adult, I realize now all of the details that they didn't share, stories that would never be re-told, the demons and nightmares being omitted to save a little girl from the real atrocities of war.
On Veteran's Day, I light a candle to my Grandpa and my Grandaddy. I light another for the men currently serving in the war on Iraq. And I light a third for Peace.
May one day our world never know the horrors of war.
