Out of the house - two days in a row! in These titles mean nothing.
- Sept. 17, 2020, 5:25 p.m.
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- Public
I visited my brother’s grave yesterday - first time since his ashes were buried in the Minnesota Veterans Cemetery in Preston. It’s a new cemetery and it’s beautiful. The stone work was done by the company my brother worked for.
The tombstones are the traditional white tablets in orderly rows up and down the hills. Mike’s says:
First name
Middle Name
Last Name
Date of birth
Date of death
US Army E-4
US Navy E-5
Vietnam
CIB OEF
At peace
With God
CIB stands for Combat Infantryman’s Badge which signifies that the soldier served in combat for a length of time. It’s an Army award for non-officers. The ‘medal’ is about four inches by half an inch and it’s worn above other ribbons and metals - it’s a rifle against a sky blue background with a silver border. When you see soldiers in uniform, testifying before Congress, preening their records, notice if they have a CIB. Some do, some don’t.
I had to look up OEF - it stands for Operation Enduring Freedom. That was Bush’s war after 9-11. Mike was over 50 but he was called to active duty and trained to be of all things a policeman and served over a year, mostly guarding a storage/distribution base in Japan and for a while at Whidbey Island’s air base in Washington state.
That stone holds my brother’s record as he wanted it to be told - to those who understood what it means.
He hoped to avoid and did avoid an honor quilt that local women make and present to veterans.
He didn’t go on an honor flight with other vets to visit the memorials in Washington DC. He might have gone had he lived longer. He might not have.
For a long time he didn’t have a plaque at the local veterans’ memorial on the court house lawn. There may be one there now. I will check later this week when I pay my property taxes.
There is no plaque for my husband who had a lesser service record - USMC in peacetime - except for the runup to the Cuban Missile Crisis when much of the ready garrison at Camp LeJeune was loaded up on ships and sent south.
There is a saying that I see fairly often now = it’s patriotic in a way that’s not grandiose. It says - Some gave all, all gave some. And the veteran’s cemetery, the memorials, even the big new painted rock in our town’s park recognize that.
Both my husband and my brother had six years service terms. My brother served two and half years of active duty, but was automatically in the army reserve for three and a half more. My husband served four years in active duty and two years in reserve. Both could have been called up for active duty at any time until the six years were up. I always thought that was unfair that people who didn’t go to the military had no obligation and those who did had a full six years of being at Uncle Sam’s beck and call.
After Mike got married he did not have a solid job so he joined the army reserve for the money - I believe - we never talked about it. After a year or so in the army reserve, he transferred to the navy reserve where he stayed until he retired perhaps ten years ago. He did say he went to the Navy because he figured he would not have to sleep on the ground or carry a gun in the navy. He had a good time, traveled a lot, got to do interesting things, collected some of his 100 friends and many more stories.
The military was good to my brother. They took care of him when he was sick and they have buried him on a pleasant south facing hill in a cemetery he helped build.
I don’t think there were any losers.
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I just looked up correct wording for ‘All gave some, some gave all’, and see it is the title of a Billy Ray Cyrus song. OMG. Not my brother’s style at all. But.
Last updated September 17, 2020
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