Posted By Bouhammer on November 12, 2009

I know it is kind of late to be posting my Veteran’s Day posting, but I must say for having the day off and thinking I would have all sorts of free time on my hands, it sure did not turn out that way. I figured I would do the cemetery visits this morning and then come home, do some weapons cleaning, work on some blog stuff, maybe do open skate at the rink with my youngest and possibly squeeze in some Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2.

The reality was a lot different. We got up early this morning and my wife, youngest son and I all went to the large cemetery in downtown Buffalo called Forest Lawn. We have done this for years on Veteran’s Day with our boys’ scout troops, and I am proud to say my wife is the main reason they do this. She makes it a point to get as many out there as possible. This is where one of my soldiers, Ben S. is buried so it always affords me the chance to visit with him. Anyway, we got there and our scouts, along with some soldiers, junior ROTC students, Veteran’s, family members and just plain old Americans all went to task to place a flag in front every veteran gravestone in the Veteran’s section of the cemetery. While there I saw a guy with a Task Force Fury shirt on. TF Fury was the unit that moved into Sharana a few months before I left country. We got to work with this unit from the 82nd Airborne a little bit. So we stuck up a conversation that lasted a while. We worked in the same area, knew some of the same people both in Afghanistan and in the US, and generally hit it off. He was a CPT that had gotten out after 4 years and a combat tour and I was a 1SG with over 22 years and a few tours, yet we talked like we had known each other forever. Hence the magic of being a soldier and another example of the “brotherhood”.

After talking with this warrior for a while and after the ceremony we got ready to leave when Hunter and I noticed some Veteran’s gravestones that were not necessarily in the veteran’s section but were still the final resting place of those that had served, but that had no flags. After heading over to visit Ben S. one more time, Hunter told me how he had seen some more flags in another bin next to the road. I could tell that it bothered him to see some Veteran’s graves left unmarked on this special day. So I asked him if he wanted to go and put flags on those four graves we saw and he told me yes. We went back and picked up four flags and then drove to the section. Hunter and I went over and rendered the honors to four veterans from WWI and WWII that would have gone unrecognized. As with earlier, he made sure to stick the flag in front and in the center. He also reached down and cleared the leaves away from each headstone so “the vets could see the flags in front of them”. I was amazed how carefully and smoothly he cleared the brown, dead leaves away from each headstone.

When he was done and as we were walking back to the car, I put my arm around him and told him that he would make a great soldier one day. He then responded with “I know, but I just hope that I don’t end up in the ground”. At this moment my knees felt like jelly and I could not believe that such a small, young man who only has seven years on this earth, could be so cognizant of what is around him and the risk involved with being a soldier. It was at this moment that I realized how much of an Army brat he is and how much my lifestyle has influenced him already.

For a brief second I was at a lost of what to do or say. Then I said the only thing I think I could without becoming a heap of sobbing father. As we continued walking I told him “well if you do son, I will be sure and always keep a flag there for you to see and keep the leaves cleared away”. As those words left my mouth, without my ability to stop them, I was already questioning if that was the wrong and morbid thing to say or not, but then he replied with “Thanks Dad”. At this point we were back to the car and before I opened the door for him to get in, I turned and knelt down and just gave him a big old hug and told him I loved him and he did the same.

That was how my day started. For the rest of the day I kept thinking about him telling me “…I don’t end up in the ground” and wondered if that were to ever happen, how much that moment will forever come back to haunt me.

From Forest Lawn, we went and had a nice breakfast. After breakfast we drove down to Holy Cross cemetery to visit Dave R. and catch up with him. On the way there we stopped at a florist to get some new flowers since we had put most of what we had at Ben’s grave. While there, we ran into one of my old soldiers, Chris R. and his wife as they were also getting flowers to take to Dave. We talked for a while and then both drove over to the cemetery. We visited some more, cleaned up things around Dave’s place and then noticed his brother Danny walk up. I had not seen Danny in a while and it was good to see him. Seeing and talking to Danny is very theraputic as Danny looks and sounds a lot like Dave. So talking to him is almost like having the ability to talk to Dave again. Anyway we caught up on time and talked some as we gave Dave some company on this day…his day.

From there we came home and had a little while to catch up on some to-do items around the house, along with some emails, etc. Hunter had been bugging me for either open skate, a bike ride or Lasertron (laser tag and arcade place). Since we had missed open skate I told him we would go to Lasertron. He, I and the Mrs. all went there and got quite a workout running around shooting at each other and others for half an hour. From there we went to Applebees to cash in on the free meal for Veteran’s that they were offering today. The place was packed and we were told it would be a 90 minute wait. Luckily we got it right at about an hour.

We called the other boys to come join us, and since Jon is a vet too, he also could eat free. We had a nice family meal in a restaurant that brought together veteran’s of wars that spanned 60+ years. There were many old guys there and plenty of young ones too. It was a nice way to cap off a long and emotionally filled day.

So as I sit here typing this posting of my day, I have to look back and recognize that even though I had all sorts of grand plans for today; the right things happened today and for the right reason. Seeing Chris and Danny was great. Being able to visit with some old soldiers of mine as they rested was a blessing too. Watching my seven-year old son demonstrate more patriotism, honor and respect in a few hours than I see come from most adults in their lifetime was humbling. I don’t think he will ever appreciate how much I was moved by him today or how much it meant to me.

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Categories: Life in the Military, Patriotism, Wall of Honor
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