Veteran's Night - Part 1

Of all the nights to forget the camera.........

I realized I had done this as I was walking up to the church - not a great time to suddenly remember. It would have been much better if I had remembered when I got to the end of the driveway, but fortunately Susan Weiner had brought her camera so we DO have photos and video!!

It is all in transit to me so the second part of this post will be the pictures and the video.

THIS post is all about our veterans who visited us. We had all five branches of the service represented:

Navy - Marcia Mendiguren
Marcia served on an air craft carrier in the Gulf War. She guided pilots to and from the carriers and wondered if she had ever spoken to Leif as he flew his missions.


Coast Guard - Brad Brenneman
Brad is still part of the Coast Guard and says his most rewarding experience was rescuing a couple hundred people fleeing Haiti on a 45 foot boat.


Marines - Leif Larson and Glenn Burkett
Leif served in Viet Nam and Leif also flew during the Gulf War.
Glenn said he wanted to sign up for the Air Force but was turned down. A Marine recruiter noticed and before Glenn knew it, he was being yelled at by a drill sergeant!

Air Force - Tom Norris and Dave Baxa
Tom served for nine years teaching electronics in Alaska. Dave served in Viet Nam.

Army - Bill Bardwell, Army Reserve - Marianne Bardwell and Army Air Corps - Fred Duncan.
Fred is the only veteran who served in WW2 and was returning from AP Hill when his unit heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.
Bill served stateside and recruited Marianne to the Reserves.

All of our veterans are grateful for the experiences they had serving our country. They found themselves in situations they would have never dreamed of and because of it, each of them discovered character and abilities they never knew they possessed. Glenn in particular said that his time in the Marines helped him discover who he is and what he wanted to be. Each of them said they would not trade their experiences for anything.

To our veterans: Thank you. Thank you for leaving your homes to defend ours*. Thank you for enduring cold, heat, drill sergeants, uncertainty, boredom, and loneliness to keep us safe. Our country is not perfect but it is a better place for people like you willing to give your very selves into its service. We salute you.

*This is the prayer David used as an invocation at the Lovettsville, VA service.

God of all nations -
We have come out today from our warm homes to remember
and to honor those who left their homes to serve and to defend our beloved country.
We come to honor those who served in bases across the nation and around the world,
who served in peace or in war,
who served a cause larger than themselves.
We come to remember those who left their homes to serve
and came home more confident and mature:
those who left and came home battered or broken in body or soul by the horror of war;
those who left to serve and never returned to their homes on earth;
those who left to serve and are serving still.
O God of all mercies,
You who left Your heavenly home to work for the reconciliation of the world,
be with us and among us to guide and hallow our remembrance today.
Amen.