Pappy Patchin on David's report from Canada

[http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfcqmts6_37hj2bvmdr, in case you haven't been there.]

What a great read!

Although I am just down the road, @ 90 miles [144 clicks in real distance] from Canada, there is limited information that comes from its military.
-----This weekend is the US Memorial Day. There will be parades, speeches and services at cemeteries and Veterans Memorials.
-----Both Susan and I being Veterans and very active in the American Legion will be participants in many of the services and ceremonies.
-----I often find my mind wandering during the speeches, remembering those men that I spent time with in Vietnam. Brave men from far away countries, on the other side of the world and far below the equator. Men who spoke "English" but with a very funny accent. Men who were Professional Soldiers that gave us Yanks the benefit of their many years of combat and training in the jungle fighting communists.
-----Each time I think of them, with pride that I knew them and pride that I had the opportunity to fight side by side with them. They are not my countrymen but they are My Brothers and I miss them.
-----When my mind comes back to reality I smile and move my eyes around (knowing well that some RSM will eat my heart out if I move my head - it's that old enlisted man or OR mentality I never lost - to see others that will never know the friendship I have with such an exceptional group of men.
-----You, the living are memorialized and I especially remember those who made the supreme sacrifice to keep our ways of life safe.

Thank you and as I learned from you: "Lest We Forget".

Very Truly,

LTC C. "Pappy" Patchin (Ret.)
United States Army