Veterans Day November 2014

This day brings to my memory a number of events and thoughts about a number of the events of the past.  How freedom is not free.  How the sacrifice by brave men and women and good moral leadership of great people have given us in this nation the freedom we enjoy.  My memory, which covers the time from World War II to this day, tells me every day of our lives we need to be giving thanks to those who served this nation.

World War II has bright recollection to me because of my brother in law who served as a pilot of a B-17 in the European theater.  From his base in England he flew many missions over France and Germany in a plane that had no heating system nor insulation in the walls of the air craft.  Not only did he and his crew survive the 30 and 40 degrees below zero inside the plane,  the constant flack and German fighters bullets, he also survived being shot down.

Books like “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand also taught me what the war was like in the Pacific Theater.  What those who served in this area of the war endured and what it was like to be a prisoner of war.  It was just as difficult as others have experienced in subsequent wars.  The sacrifice that was made by the families of those who served also needs to be recognized.  Families like that of a very good friend who’s husband was killed in a landing accident on a small island in the Pacific ocean.  She has been a stalwart citizen faithful all these years.

My 5 years of military service as a navigator in a KC-135 before and during the Vietnam war remind me of the constant concern and fear which existed then about the possibility of another global war.  The time that was spent on alert always prepared to take off before missiles could reach bases and cities in this land still remind me of the need to always be prepared to defend our freedom.

Many men and women have given much, some all, to see that you and I remain free from the terror of evil men who desire to enslave the minds and bodies of others.  We must always remember freedom is not free. It was not free when this land was freed from the King of England in the Revolutionary War and will never be free as long as there are people who would seek to conquer others.

This is a day to give thanks to those who gave so much for so many not only this land but many people.  This thanks can be in so many different ways.  Thanks for being in a land of the free.

Contributed by MH Phoenix Estate Planning Attorney and Senior Partner, Dan R. Morris.

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