{"id":19254,"date":"2019-12-22T17:12:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T17:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=19254"},"modified":"2019-12-22T17:17:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T17:17:47","slug":"life-island-times-honor-flight-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/life-island-times-honor-flight-42\/","title":{"rendered":"Life & Island Times: Honor Flight 42"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author\u2019s Note: After a long break in the tales of my long ago road travels in the southern building trades here is something new.<\/p>\n

– Marlow<\/p>\n

December 22 2019<\/p>\n

Honor Flight 42<\/p>\n

\"122219-1\"<\/p>\n

Shipmates and I have funded in the past several Navy veterans’ honor flights, helped other honorees fly off and celebrated their trips at both ends of their journeys. But, early in September 2019 was the first time I was asked to write a letter to one of them for Honor Flight Dallas Fort Worth #42, courtesy of my Texas brother-in-law. Edward is a Korean War dogface, a M4 tanker by trade (yup, African Americans had to pilot those old WW II pieces of crap versus better equipped Soviet stuff). I am a squid by trade and by family tradition stretching back through two world wars and beyond.<\/p>\n

\"122219-2\"
\nHonor Flight 42’s Edward<\/p>\n

Needless to say, I was bit lost regarding how to talk vet-to-vet to someone who to me was a member of a “foreign” armed service. We squids all “stood the watch” like the old poem recounts. Our brethren in green “stood at their posts,” so . . .<\/p>\n

September 11, 2019<\/p>\n

Dear Sir,<\/p>\n

During your war years
\nYou stood at your post<\/p>\n

While the rest of us were in our beds at night
\nYou stood at your post<\/p>\n

While many of us were in school learning our ABCs
\nYou stood at your post<\/p>\n

Yes . . . even before most of us were born into this world
\nYou stood at your post<\/p>\n

In those years with clouds of war storming over the world
\nYou stood at your post<\/p>\n

In the cold, the rain, the snow, the heat,
\nYou stood at your post<\/p>\n

Many times you would hope for a mail call envelop
\nCasting an eye eastward waiting for some family news
\nNeeding but a few words to hold onto during hard times
\nBut even empty handed, still you stood at your post<\/p>\n

You stood at your post during an almost forgotten war
\nSo that we, our families and
\nYour countrymen could sleep soundly and safely every night
\nKnowing that a soldier stood at his post<\/p>\n

Today I am writing to say
\nSoldier . . . you and your war will never be forgotten<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for standing at your post.<\/p>\n

– Marlow
\nUS Navy 1973-1994<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

We all, vet and non-vet, should support these flights no matter our means. These national treasured gems are quietly slipping through our fingers.<\/p>\n

\"122219-3\"
\nKorean War Memorial, Washington DC
\nCopyright \u00a9 2019 From My Isle Seat
\nhttp:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author\u2019s Note: After a long break in the tales of my long ago road travels in the southern building trades here is something new. – Marlow December 22 2019 Honor Flight 42 Shipmates and I have funded in the past several Navy veterans’ honor flights, helped other honorees fly off and celebrated their trips at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-island-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19254"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19261,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19254\/revisions\/19261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}