This Tribute is to honor, first and foremost, all our veterans, as well as their family members, who have made sacrifices – either on the front line, or behind the scenes.
I have a great appreciation for our veterans & their families and the sacrifices they have made, based on firsthand knowledge of those sacrifices. I’ll call this piece,
Honor, Respect, Dedication and Collateral Damages.
A 16 year old young man, in high school, very athletic, very popular, and very patriotic, left the hallways of his safe, familiar high school and glories of the football field, to embark on a journey to support, protect, and defend not only his country’s rights & freedoms, but to take a stand for those in Europe who could not make that stand for themselves. He made the decision to give up his personal life and entered WW II. This young man made it his life-long duty to serve, protect, and defend his country, and went on to fight in Vietnam Conflict and Korea as well. During his time in the military, he met & married a beautiful young woman, who understood his dedication, and respected and understood his commitment to his country. Somehow, during periods of leave, this man and woman managed to bring five children into the world he loved so much – five children, born in four different states. Together, even though apart for long periods of time, this man & woman instilled in their children to appreciate, respect, honor, and cherish the freedoms that were afforded to them through the sacrifices of the brave men and woman who gave so much of their lives to make sure all of these liberties remained a part of their world, and to always show respect for this country he, like so many others, fought to defend – no sacrifice was too great.
At the ripe old age of 42, this man retired from active duty, enlisted in the Reserves, and headed home to his wife and children to begin their life together – six months later, this husband, father, life-long defender of his country was dead – leaving behind a young wife and five small children ranging from 13 to five (5) years of age. Devastation created by the death of their loved one was only the beginning of what would turn out to be years of living in poverty, hunger, and loneliness, but this military family never lost sight of the values their husband/father held dear. Even though it seemed that the Country he had given his life for had forsaken them, they continued to respect, defend, and cherish the lessons taught to them by a man that dedicated his entire life to this country.
These children could have very easily taken a destructive path through life, but they held onto the lessons taught to them by a military man and his wife, and they went on to keep his values alive. The oldest child is a life-long coal miner, the second son a retired Veteran and State Trooper, the oldest daughter a housewife – who was also the second anchor for her siblings, the fourth daughter – touched by medical tragedies – became a client of our firm, and the youngest daughter is employed as a Hearing Clerk at Jan Dils.
First and foremost, I hold GREAT respect, honor, and appreciation for the Veterans who defend our rights and freedoms, but I also think we need to remember those who are behind our Vets, the moms, dads, siblings, spouses and children who make sacrifices of their own – who by no fault of their own, become collateral damage.
God Bless our Veterans and their families,
Pamela Mullins
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