In November we honor our veterans, but their families often sacrificed, too. And frequently, they carry the stories of their vets.
Last month the Operation Support Our Troops yoga class for GIs (and their families), taught by dedicated volunteers, celebrated its fourth anniversary. Some of the women in class had loved ones who served during the Vietnam era, and Ken Burns’ recent PBS series on Vietnam made it a topic of discussion. One wife’s husband served in Germany, mine was on a submarine, another’s husband (then fiancée) was a journalist in Vietnam who did not experience combat, but did see the remains of three of his buddies.
One classmate remembered watching the news every day for his year in-country, hoping to hear good news and fearing bad.
Our instructor, Kate, shared about the men in her family. Her uncle did two tours in Vietnam. Her family and her husband’s (like Forrest Gump’s Lieutenant Dan’s), has served in almost every war all the way back to the Revolutionary War — and in all five branches. Her grandfather served as a gunner’s mate on the USS New Mexico, a WWII battleship, and kept a diary which was quoted in a documentary about the ship. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jovddGNK09c).
According to Kate, “It was strange hearing his words with someone else’s voice. It was personal for him because he could see the faces of the kamikazes he shot down.”
I wanted to interview another World War II vet for this column, but he declined.
“I had three meals and a bunk,” he told me. “You should ask some of these guys who actually saw combat.”
Sometimes, we have to let the families speak because our vets are modest or they may be gone. Some of them want to keep their traumas safely locked away. One more way families serve after the wars.
