A few weeks ago my wife and I went on a week long vacation to Washington, D.C. Neither one of us had ever been and it has been a destination point for the two of us for about five years. We scheduled the trip back in July and looked forward to the trip. The places I wanted to go were: Arlington Cemetery, Korean War Memorial, World War II Memorial, Viet Nam Memorial, the Capitol Building, Library of Congress, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Memorial, in that order.
Because my dad is a disabled vet from the Korean War, I couldn’t wait to see the Tombs of the Unknowns at Arlington and the Korean War Memorial. I had seen a couple of pictures of the Korean War Memorial, but nothing prepared me for the huge wave of emotions that would hit me when I entered the Memorial. As we got closer, I could see the light gray statues of soldiers posed as if they were walking thru a rice patty. They were like frozen in time. When I got to the front of the memorial and took it all in, I couldn’t help but burst into tears. It was like I was taken back to 1951 and I got a glimpse of what my father had experienced. I walked around to look at each soldier and studied his face. As I went from soldier to soldier, I looked for the one without a rifle. As a medic, my dad carried no weapon. When I came upon the one with no gun, but just a bag, I again started to cry. I told my wife, “That’s him. That’s my Dad.” I have always been proud of my dad and his sacrifice for this great nation, and at that moment my heart just swelled.
Engraved in front of the soldiers is a quote that says, “OUR NATION HONORS HER SONS AND DAUGHTERS WHO ANSWERED THE CALL TO DEFEND A COUNTRY THEY NEVER KNEW AND A PEOPLE THEY NEVER MET.” Then the place that also got to me was on the edge of the reflection pool. There was an inscription with the number of wounded and the number killed. It said, “DEAD- USA: 54,246 UN: 628,833; WOUNDED- USA: 103,284 UN: 1,064,453.”
My father was one of those 103,284 and only by the grace of God was he not one of the 54,246. I am thankful the Lord spared him so that he could come to San Antonio, Texas and meet Estefana Trejo, fall in love, get married, and have two handsome sons. (At least one is handsome, I’ll let you decide which one.)
Many people speak about World War II, Viet Nam, and The Gulf War; and they should. But they omit the Korean War. Not this man. I am here because of the Forgotten War.
Thank you Veterans for your sacrifice. Blessings!
1 comment:
An outstanding tribute Ed, it is a forgotten war. But not by those of us who care and honor their brave service to our nation. I have a friend who has a purple heart from severe frostbite suffered at the Battle for the Chosin Reservoir. The Marines were overwhelmingly outnumbered and ill-equipped with WWII surplus. They viciously fought for their lives and barely escaped annihilation.
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