It had been almost 30 year since we repositioned our units from that Area of Operations (AO) but yesterday a lost soldier from that era returned home to be with his brothers in arms. The AO was the backyard of my youth and the soldier was one of many “little green army men” that I lost in my battles in that wide copse of trees and grass between the house and the garage. I don’t remember the mission but seeing him again was like meeting a best friend that you had lost touch with for several years and were able to pick right back up where you left off, and for a moment yesterday I was once again a 6 year old general leading my men in the fight against the Nazi’s. It was the height of Vietnam and as a 6 year old I thought that the actual gorillas had somehow revolted not unlike the apes in Planet of the Apes, I had no concept at the time that a war between men was waging a half a world away, my enemies were still the enemies of my father, the Germans of WWII.
We moved from that house in ’76 for another one closer to my dad’s office and 2 years later we left Pennsylvania all together. The couple that bought the house from my parents (Mr. & Mrs. H.) still lives there to this day and it was them that sent this soldier home to us. They wrote in the letter, “For many years after we moved in Jen and I would find these soldiers in the backyard and around the property and we could tell that four boys had lived here. It had been many years since we found any of them about the property and we thought for sure that all of them had been found until earlier this year when we found this one soldier.”
Amazingly, their oldest daughter lives not far from my parents, and Mr. And Mrs. H had attended the same church my parents attend, when they visited her. Seeing my parents name in the bulletin they sent our lost brother home to us and yesterday I was re-acquainted with him. I read that letter several times yesterday while sitting around the table sharing our Christmas day meal, and I was reminded that many other of our brothers are coming home form Iraq and Afghanistan and I thought, perhaps this soldier was a message to me, a sign that I am on the right path to my calling.
Yesterday a Soldier from a long lost era returned home, tomorrow Soldiers from a different era will come home, let us great them like old friends, and honor them for their sacrifices. They are Soldiers of this Grand Union and they deserve to be honored as we honor all heroes with parades and gratitude and everlasting thanks for sacrificing their lives for our freedoms.
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