Tuesday, November 11, 2008

veterans

LCI(L)-41 at anchor in the Pacific Theater,
158' long, 23'3" wide at middle, 1/4" steel plate hull;
propelled by two sets of quad General Motors 6 cylinder diesel engines
(3600 HP/quad, total 8 engines).
Top speed 15.5 knots.


It came in the mail a while back, a newsletter to the crew of the LCI-41, pictured above. It was addressed to my father-in-law using an old address, I am surprised it actually arrived here. They were trying to locate old crew members, but after starting out with a list of 135 they ended up with addresses for 18 and some (like this one) found the surviving family instead.




On this veterans day, what do you think of when you hear the word veteran? I think of the old veterans from WWII, who came home to parades and victory. Unfortunately we have veterans of all ages now, with war a seemingly unending state of affairs.

The generation of veterans from WWII are almost gone now, the remaining few reaching out to find their old comrades, trying to sustain that bond that is shared by soldiers, wishing they could get together just one more time and tell some old war stories.



Remembering all the veterans on this Veterans Day, young or old, kin or not. Thanks for everything!

~naval photo found here

~tickertape parade photo found at
Georgia's Virtual Vault

~flag - unfinished patriotic wallhanging, a good time to finish what I start


spring