For Veterans Day in the U.S., my wife Marie and I each will have a chocolate covered cherry, as we do every year. It's a family tradition, one born of a love without which I wouldn't have my wife.
Marie's paternal grandpa served in World War I, as did both my grandfathers. While serving far from home, he started receiving letters from a young Ohio woman who was part of a group writing letters to lonely soldiers. Through the letters, they realized they had something special. Once he was back after the war, they arranged to meet. They fell in love, and were married on what they then called Armistice Day, Nov. 11, the day he got to come home to her after the war. Every year they would celebrate the day by sharing chocolate covered cherries. That continued even after Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day, and through all of their six-decade married life.
Marie's paternal grandpa served in World War I, as did both my grandfathers. While serving far from home, he started receiving letters from a young Ohio woman who was part of a group writing letters to lonely soldiers. Through the letters, they realized they had something special. Once he was back after the war, they arranged to meet. They fell in love, and were married on what they then called Armistice Day, Nov. 11, the day he got to come home to her after the war. Every year they would celebrate the day by sharing chocolate covered cherries. That continued even after Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day, and through all of their six-decade married life.
On Veterans Day, I will think of my paternal grandpa, who was in the thick of some of the fiercest fighting American forces saw in World War I, and what he went through. And I will share chocolate covered cherries with my wife to honor all those who came home and built lives here, and a love that lasted six decades.
Remember those who served in war, and thank them. Honor them if you can't thank them any more. Memorial Day is for those who died. Veterans Day is for those who came home, and they deserve out thanks and honor, too.