In Honor of

November 11, 2013 by gin 5 Comments

Today is Veterans Day in the US.  My husband and I have walked by this marker hundreds of times over the years, but this morning is the first time I remember stopping to read the inscription.  It sits on the edge of Jedidiah Smith State Park and is, by this time, a moss-covered fixture of the forest.  It reads as follows:

THIS UNIT OF 500 ACRES IN THE

NATIONAL TRIBUTE GROVE

IS PRESERVED THROUGH THE NATIONAL SOCIETY

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

TO HONOR THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES

OF THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR II

AND TO KEEP INVIOLATE THESE PRIMEVAL SEQUOIAS

AS AN AMERICAN HERITAGE  1949

Fitting that we would pick today to stop and read the inscription.  My father-in-law served in the Navy during World War II, and my own father served in the Army during the Korean Conflict.  Here is an early picture of my dad in uniform and a much later picture of him in Alaska — one of his favorite places on earth — the year before he passed away.  My thanks today to my Dads, and to all servicemen and servicewomen, for serving your country honorably.