This week, we will see signs acknowledging the military service of our
colleagues, family, and friends. We will have coffee with them in the morning,
meet with them throughout the day, and work with them tomorrow. As we do, let’s
remember they have had a significant life experience the rest of us did not
have. Today we set aside a few moments to honor them for it, and they let us.
Most would rather the day go by without notice, but this one day, we get to
recognize they have done something for us. Today, we get to remind ourselves to
make their military experience worth it by earning it the rest of the year.
Two recent events reinforced the meaning of Veterans Day for me this
year.
One was the Stand Up for Heroes concert last Wednesday at Madison
Square Garden. The video below describes how a band of brothers came together
to perform at the concert. The band members are Wounded Warriors, and they are
led by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. The band members talk about the impact music
has on them and one, Marine Corporal Tim Donnelly, says, “I feel more whole now
that I’ve ever been in my whole life.” He lost both legs and use of his arm in
the recent war in Afghanistan.
The other event was not from the recent wars but from WWII.
Upon the death of his uncle, a man found two suitcases full of video
shot by his uncle during WWII. His uncle was a flight surgeon who took more
than 100 hours of film. As the man watched some of the film, he became curious
about the people in the clips. He wondered if they had ever seen the film and
if they would want to. One of the clips is of a pilot making an emergency
landing of a spitfire.
The video below tells the story of the uncle and the pilot. The video
shows Lt. John S. Blyth, a WWII recon mission pilot who flew unarmed and alone
over Germany, seeing the film of his landing for the first time. The whole
story is interesting, but seeing the pilot see his landing for the first time
makes stories like this hit close to home.
On days like today, we often hear the phrase, “All gave some, and some
gave all.” We work with people who gave some and know people who gave all. Today
we honor all of them.
