I’ve had the honor to know and meet many members of the greatest generation. Their greatness comes from their humility which is at the core of living a real, authentic and sustainable life. Thank you to all the men and women (and their families) who have served and continue to serve. To those who have made the ultimate sacrifice I have no words only feelings impossible to express.
This morning I caught a few minutes of Charlie Sykes radio talk show here in Milwaukee. Charlie was talking about Wisconsin’s own Stars and Stripes Honor Flight. This group raises money to fly veterans of WWII to Washington D.C. so they can personally visit this somber yet amazing memorial dedicated to their humility. Unfortunately, the demographic of this group means that we lose about 900 of them each day.
For me this is personal. My father never got to visit the WWII memorial. As a member of the greatest generation he did fight to defend our freedom and liberate Europe. We shared pictures like the one above with him a couple years before he lost his battle with cancer. He flew a P51 in the European theater and this part of the memorial is for him and all others who defended those skies.
Above is the second of four videos from the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight web-site. This part shows the veterans at the memorial. It’s about 10 minutes long which seems like an eternity in the internet age. I actually watched all four parts while writing this post. I’m fairly certian that a good percentage of you that make it this far in the post will at least watch the above video.
After you do, please consider going back to the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight web-site and donating whatever you can afford. Charlie Sykes indicated they are trying to get another flight together for May 2, 2010. Please help me make sure those who want to go have no financial obstacles.