Stan Hitchcock-View From The Front Porch-May 26, 2013

Our Service Time does matter, the years we all gave, and the sons and daughters, Mothers and Fathers and Aunts and Uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews, that left home for a cause of freedom...it wasn't just an extended Senior Trip to Europe and the Pacific, to Korea and Viet Nam, to Iraq and Afghanistan..it was a sacrifice of a chunk of our lives...and for some, it was their lives, for they never came home.

I have kin, going back to the Continental Army, and some that fought in the Indian Wars as they settled the Western Wilderness, The War of 1812, and other almost forgotten Wars that were scattered through the 1800's. I had kin on both sides of the War Between The States, I had a Great Uncle that came back from Europe, in WWI, lungs ruined from the Mustard Gas, but who didn't let that stop him from having a life and family.

My Uncle Don Johnson, youngest brother of my Mother, got Grandma to sign for him, in 1941, when he was 17, went to the Pacific Islands and crawled into those holes and tunnels, with just his service knife, and did the hand to hand combat that I wrote about. He was my hero, and he couldn't talk about it, even years later, for when he would try, his voice would choke up, his hands would shake, and he would quit.

Denise's father, Duane Thornburg, also went into the army of the Pacific Isles in WWII, when he was 17, and was part of the Occupation Forces when they landed and marched into Tokyo.

Doesn't matter, Peace Time or War Time, our Service mattered, for it kept our Country Strong, in those earlier years.

Now, we face a new enemy of Terror, but is it really that different from the Zero's diving down to bomb the Battleships and bases in Hawaii? That was pretty terrorizing, to those that were trapped inside the burning ships. Dang it, War is War, and I'm mighty tired of some Politician, who never wore a uniform in his life, telling me not to worry, the bad terrorist are all gone now. Well, as long as the Lord lingers, there will be those who want to destroy our Freedom, and it will be our youngest, and best, that go out to put their lives on the line, just as it always has been.

God Bless the boys and girls who still stand in the breach, to keep our Country safe, so this old man can still go out on the Front Porch and ramble.

stan