As a retired Vietnam Combat Veteran, Memorial Day has always been a day of reflection to me. A day to give thanks to all those brave young heroic men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in their service to this great country of ours.

My father was a WW II veteran who spent the last year of the war as a POW. Two of his brothers were killed during the war ( 2 of my uncles that I never got to meet ). Over the last few years of his life, I always had a hard time getting him to talk about the war. I now realize that the more horror that you are exposed to, the less you want to talk about it.

In mine own experiences during the Vietnam War. After spending almost 3 years there ( 68,69 &70 ) I feel the exact same way. I very seldom ever want to talk about any of it. What I will say is that in those years I saw enough death and destruction to last me 3 lifetimes. And on days like this I truly remember the friends and fellow service members that gave the " LAST FULL MEASURE " or flew their last flight over the skies of Southeast Asia.

On this Memorial Day I salute you all. And " GOD BLESS AMERICA "