![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/me_n_dad-222x300.jpg?resize=222%2C300\")
<\/p>\nTwo or three times a year some of us geezer types get a bit tangled up in old times. Late April and much of May include several dates that trigger memories here.<\/p>\n
Late April because my pop was declared KIA in Korea on April 25, 1951.<\/p>\n
Early May because years ago I was discharged on May 9, 1969 from the Navy after spending over a year around Vietnam. Flew back into SFO and got spit at and called a baby killer on arrival.<\/p>\n
And then there is Memorial Day. The advertisements for sales and off topic events make the day difficult to avoid, even if I wanted to. So I repeat this post with minor updates.<\/p>\n
Circa 1950 pix of me \u2018n dad<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was an Army brat the first few years of my life. I have vague memories (or memories of memories?) of several Army posts; in Georgia, in Arizona, and another place or two. Then my dad was deployed to some place called Korea sometime in 1950.<\/p>\n
Three additional memories are a bit more vivid \u2013 the day we were notified he was Missing in Action and, sometime later, that his remains had been recovered, and finally, his funeral. I wasn\u2019t allowed to go \u2013 I was deemed too young.<\/p>\n
But, I have a Purple Heart.<\/p>\n
He is buried in our home town, and there\u2019s a small memorial in the city park there with his name inscribed. I visit both as often as I can. Even though I was only five or six at the time and will be 71 in about a month I still miss him. I have pictures and memories, and\u2026<\/p>\n
I have a Purple Heart.<\/p>\n
For many others, like myself, Memorial Day has a face.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We\u2019re past the 50 year anniversary of Vietnam and there is a wall FULL of my brothers and sisters who earned a Purple Heart<\/p>\n
With that – Please<\/strong> don\u2019t wish me a happy Memorial Day because\u2026<\/p>\n I have HIS Purple Heart!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two or three times a year some of us geezer types get a bit tangled up in old times. Late April and much of May include several dates that trigger memories here. Late April because my pop was declared KIA in Korea on April 25, 1951. Early May because years ago I was discharged on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":467,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geezer-alert"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ozh1-iNv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}