Veterans Day is celebrated tomorrow, but should be celebrated every day. The men and women that served and are serving in our armed forces put themselves in harm’s way to assure we maintain the freedom, liberty and justice we too many times take for granted.
We owe our way of life to these brave men and women and no amount of celebration or acknowledgment could repay them.
We no longer have a draft but we have sufficient volunteers that step forward. This is hard stuff. Regardless of their reasons they are on the front lines protecting us 24/7/365. I find it hard to find words to express my appreciation. I am totally inadequate to convey my full feelings and be able to touch you in ways I feel. So, I want to put it in a little perspective using some famous baseball players that you should all know about. Hank Greenberg, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Willy Mays.
I chose these four because I recently posted their batting statistics and included the number of years they served in the Army. I received a call to correct one of my numbers. I had Ted Williams down for 3 years, but he actually missed 5 years since during the Korean War he played in 6 games one year and 37 the next. The posting was originally to indicate the “numbers” of some of the greatest players, but not all, that I was particularly more interested in. The purpose was to compare Babe Ruth with other great players on New York teams but I included Ted Williams because how could I not? And I included Hank Greenberg because he grew up in the shadow of Yankee Stadium but played for Detroit. He became a personal hero of mine when I found out more about him since he retired before I started to understand what baseball was. He also turned down a contract with the Yankees because, as a first baseman, he figured he would never get playing time away from their then-current first baseman, Lou Gehrig.
Here are the stats:
Look at these numbers. Imagine what they would have done if they did not miss those years. This was a personal sacrifice by each of them. No fanfare. No accolades. Just doing their duty. They were heroes on the baseball diamond, but real heroes where it counted – fighting for the United States of America. There were many more, some famous but most just doing their duty. I am personally acquainted with four men I speak with regularly that served in World War II and will call them tomorrow to thank them. Real heroes!
Every person serving today and that ever served are true heroes. We set aside Veterans Day to recognize them, but we should set aside a moment every day to remember their bravery and courage and what they gave up for us.
God bless them and God bless America.
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