I can’t thank my dad & father-in-law today for the sacrifices they made in Korea & World War 2, I did while I could, but it took an “attitude adjustment” from the man that gave me my last name to understand why I should. When I was 18 or 19, thinking myself witty, debonair, & urbane, a clothes horse in my Izod popped collar under a button down, showered in Grey Flannel cologne & …ignorance, I commented on a man in my church wearing too wide a tie with a past its day leisure suit. Words I soon regretted. My dad was a compassionate soul but didn’t take to foolish talk, especially from one of his own, & he could be decidedly non-diplomatic in his responses. I received one of those responses in the church parking lot in the company of two deacons & my Sunday School teacher. My father informed me that early on June 6, 1944, the man in the suit & tie hung over France with only God & a parachute canopy above him & greeters from the German army & a flooded countryside below him. He, like my father, had experienced the hotter than 12 yards of Hell thing known as combat. That his sacrifice allowed me to express my “dumb@$$” comments & if I had any further thoughts they should stay between my ears & behind my lips. On Sunday June 6, 1994, with more miles in my rear view mirror & before church, I watched on TV as some men parachuted into France as they had done 50 years before to celebrate the golden anniversary of D-Day. After the church service, I found that hero in the suit & tie & said thanks. Through tears, he thanked me & said there were a lot of white crosses on top of a lot of boys forever 18 or 19, at places called Omaha & Utah that deserved the real thanks. Those forever 18 & 19 dressed in olive drab, forever resting, cloaked in the courage of sacrifice. Thank a Veteran today, while you still can….& to the veterans from my church & those that will be, the high ranking chaplain in Korea’s DMZ, the one just home from helping keep birds in the air from a carrier deck, one two years out of Parris Island, the plebe at West Point, & those I’ve missed, thank you for your sacrifices too.