Monday, May 29, 2006

Moving Memorial Day tribute

I read a moving Memorial Day tribute written by a friend of mine that I thought was worth sharing.
A United States Marine was laid to rest last week at the Veterans Cemetery in Boulder City, Nevada. He was an American hero. A World War II and Korean War veteran. He was a member of what Tom Brokaw calls the “Greatest Generation”. Private First Class, George Donald Lotz was a man I barely knew. This Marine was my father.
Read on for more.

The story gave me goose bumps. The stories of men like my friend's father are unimaginable. It’s hard to say anything more than a huge “Thank you” to them.

Something his father and vets like him may have found surprising was my experience when I lived in Japan as a kid (30+ years after the war). Countless times, older Japanese would walk up to me (seeing that I was an American) and simply say “thank you” which may have been the only English words they knew. At first I was confused why they were saying that to me until I asked some Japanese to explain. They were saying thank you to me as a representative of our country (albeit a 10 year old representative) for how we treated their country after a brutal war. Today, they are now among our best friends in the world due to how we treated them after victory. That was a part of what the men like my friend's dad fought for — demonstrating a humanity that many victors of past wars hadn’t shown.

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