"We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free." - President Ronald Reagan, Omaha Beach, June 6, 1984.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Although most use the holiday for going to the beach, camping or backyard bar-b-ques, it is a day set aside to remember and thank those who served our nation and paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy those freedoms our Founding Fathers envisioned.
To my knowledge, nobody in my family (at least since World War I) died in combat.
My maternal grandfather, Merle Charleston served in the United States Navy as a Seabee (the name comes from Construction Battalion or C.B.) during World War II. His trade was as an electrician.
He spent most of World War II at Dutch Harbor in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. They received some bombing attacks from the Japanese during his tenure.
He passed away on Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, 1966 and is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery at Point Loma in San Diego.
My dad, Armand Vaquer, was a Military Police officer in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Originally, he as in the the National Guard in Los Angeles. But when the war broke out, his division was called up for service in South Korea. At first, he was sent to Sendai, Japan and had some duty time at nearby Matsushima Bay (that accounts for my fondness for Sendai and Matsushima Bay, which I visited in 2006).
He passed away December 15, 1999 and is buried at Riverside National Cemetry in Riverside, California.
A salute to them and all the other great Americans who served in our armed forces.
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