(14th in a series of posts on Memorial Day)
ssinsider is known to Gadfly but prefers to remain anonymous.
Gadfly:
My dad was a Marine, too, a Quaker Marine; go figure. He believed that his generation had to save democracy from terrible tyrants and terrifying prejudice and violence. He fought in Okinawa, and was one of two officers in his division who came out of that uninjured and/or alive. This gentle man worked for peace and social justice all of the rest of his life, wanting to save other generations from the horrors of war. He was a role model for so many people, as we heard at his memorial service: he taught by example, by battling bigotry every day in his work and in his personal time, and we learned along side him –his little band of justice seekers. And at the very end of his memorial service, just as he requested, the Marine Hymn was played . . . and we sang along. Semper Fi, indeed.
ssinsider