Veteran's Day 2025

"If you can read this, thank a teacher. 
If you can read this in English, thank a veteran."
From Honor Flight.org

by Skip Cohen

​It's Veteran's Day, and while parts of this post I shared many years ago, it's still great to bring back. 

My Dad was part of the "Greatest Generation," serving in the Army Air Corps in WWII. Like so many veterans, while he saw action in the Pacific, he rarely talked about it. However, there were a few stories he shared over the years.

Dad played the trumpet all through high school and college until he dropped out to serve after Pearl Harbor. That's Dad in one of the Army Air Corps bands above, second from the right in front of the drummer. 

On a hot, humid day in New Guinea in the 1940s, his CO was looking for musicians. Dad's hand to volunteer couldn't have gone up faster, thinking he was about to score some light duty. All those years playing the trumpet were about to pay off! NOT - for the next three days, he was part of a crew moving pianos for Bob Hope and a USO show!

Dad was initially trained as a pilot but wound up with a perforated eardrum. That changed his role, limiting his time in the air. He spent a good part of the war in the tower at the airfield. One story he told me was about his CO near the end of the war. They regularly sent out planes to calibrate the radar. Just as Dad was getting ready to head out and fly with one of the calibration crews, his CO held him back so he could go himself. Dad was pissed that he got out-ranked and had to stay in the tower. Well, the plane never returned!

That one event gave Dad a whole new philosophy on everything from destiny to dealing with disappointment to believing in divine intervention. Growing up, whenever I was disappointed over something big or small, Dad would remind me, "Everything always works out for the better!"

A year before Dad passed away, we joined HonorFlight.org and went to Washington. I remember Dad sitting with a group of veterans who were also on the trip. Dad was based in the Asia Pacific, and they had all been on the European front. Somebody asked Dad if he ever got to meet General MacArthur. I loved his answer, "No, but I brought in his plane a few times!"
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So, to our son Brian, who's serving now, Uncle Randy who passed away last year, my Dad who left us in 2015, and all my friends and associates who served in Viet Nam or have family in the military now, I'm not only writing the longest run-on sentence I've ever published, but sharing a big heartfelt thank you!

On this Veteran's Day morning, I wish everybody a day of peace—not just inner peace with your life, but the kind our veterans have fought to preserve. Take the time to hug a veteran today and remind them of your appreciation for the sacrifices they made. And, to every parent who joins us with family in the military today - "thank you" is such an understatement.

If you've got a veteran in the family, especially if they're in their 70s or older, check out HonorFlight.org. It's a fantastic group with one goal: to show the appreciation all our veterans deserve and get them to Washington for one more "tour." Just click on the HonorFlight logo below for more information.

"We can't all be heroes, some of us have to stand on the curb and clap as they walk by."
Will Rogers

That's Dad in the blue hat on our Honor Flight trip in 2014.