A disabled veteran’s story to be thankful for

Published 12:19 am Friday, October 3, 2008

As Thanksgiving approaches, we look back and count our blessings. This year, that is difficult for many families who have loved ones deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is even harder for those whose relatives have been killed or wounded in combat.

This year, I am thankful for a World War II veteran and his wife I met this summer in upstate Michigan. They reminded me of my parents, who have passed away. They are the fabric of America.

He and his wife of 64 years were raised in a Michigan farming community near Battle Creek. Like my parents, they dated in high school, and when he graduated in 1943, he joined the Army. My dad also enlisted in the same Army and was wounded in the war. He fully recovered. However, two years after this man signed up, he lost his right arm fighting in the Pacific.

He returned home disabled, but not defeated. He used the GI bill to go to college and eventually became a senior auditor with the state of Michigan where he retired after 38 years. My father used the GI bill to go to trade school to become a journeyman electrician. After 50 years he became a master electrician-a title he proudly wore.

They raised four children and established family traditions that would leave lasting impressions on their children and grandchildren just as my parents did.

Their tradition was to travel to Mackinac Island for a three-night stay at the famed Grand Hotel, a historic place steeped in its own tradition, when their children and grandchildren completed high school. Now in their mid 80s and hobbled by time, this would be their last trip to the Hotel. They were celebrating their three youngest grandchildren’s graduation.

The last time I saw them, they were decked out in evening attire and headed into the dining room for a formal dinner. You could see the love and respect in the eyes of both the grandparents and the teenagers. It is what family is all about.

This family’s story is one that even melts the most cold-hearted. It brought back fond memories of my family back in Montana for which I am eternally grateful.

If all of us do our part to support our troops and their families while they are serving and after they return, there will be more stories like this 40 or 50 years from now.

For that to happen, all of us must remember it isn’t just the job of the government, military or the Veterans Administration to help our troops put the horrors of war behind them and resume their civilian lives. We all have that responsibility as citizens of a grateful nation.

We cannot forget that our returning veterans need healing, unification, education, training and career opportunities. Uncle Sam can and will provide much of that assistance, but we must make sure that those troops and their families have welcoming communities and workplaces to return to.

On this Thanksgiving, and on the ones ahead, Americans must not forget the sacrifices of our veterans and their families. They won’t.

Don Brunell is president of the Association of Washington Business