I Salute Those Who Serve

William Hayward Lumpkin

On this Veterans Day, I think of all those who willingly step up to serve our country, especially those who choose to wear a uniform that requires them to go where they are sent, even when those orders take them  to the front lines.  Most especially, I think about those soldiers, sailors and air warriors, nurses and medics who served in World War II.  Many of them are gone now, as that conflict ended more than 60 years ago.

I think especially of my husband's father, William Hayward Lumpkin.  He was among those in uniform in World War II, then served until his retirement from the U.S. Army many years later.  Though retired from military service, he never really left the Army behind, retiring a second time from a civilian job at Ft. Campbell in Kentucky.  He remained loyal to his comrades-in-arms, maintaining friendships made in the Army throughout his life.

While I never saw him in uniform, I heard the pride in his voice when he talked about his service.  Those comments were rare, actually, despite the breadth of his experience.  He wasn't inclined to share war stories.  Rather than talk about those memories, his conversation was centered around those he loved and his penchant for wry humor.  Whatever he'd known of hardship and strife in uniform was left behind, replaced by the joy he knew in home and family, friends and golf, or the pleasure of a good horse race.

I saw the pride in the eyes of his family, their pride in his service.  I know that pride lives on in their memories of him more than a decade after his death.  They know the sacrifices he made for them and for our country, a country boy from Alabama who honored the uniform he wore.

So, I think this Veterans Day of the man we called "Pappy."  I thank him and all the others, gone but not forgotten, who have given of themselves in service to America.  I thank those who go into harm's way today.  We are a fortunate people to have among us the men and women who choose to serve.