"Freedom......................."

If our long drive home Saturday from St. Pete was marked by several occasions of my, either accidently or on purpose, reversing course on the expressway and losing time, it also had a few other moments that stick with me, one in particular no more than a face now vividly etched in my brain. We had stopped in Jellico, Tennessee for one last tank of gas, finding but two small stations, each connected to a fast food restaurant; and, as it was, the five of us needed refilling as well as the car. My taste buds wanted Wendy’s, but Papaw got out-voted, four to one. Into Arby’s we went, needing to stretch our legs; but, deciding the coffee might be fresher next door at the outlet, I walked over there while Beth ordered and didn’t notice the old man sitting alone in the booth until I returned. It was the “WWII Veteran” ball-cap on his head that caught my attention. That had to make him nearly twenty years older than me, one of my father’s “bunch”, not many of them left and all of them greatly valued in my book. Walking over to shake his hand and extend my gratitude, I immediately noted a circular white scar on his cheek and also realized his nose had gone through some sort of reconstruction. Nothing grotesque, but evident enough to let me know that when he spoke of having served in Germany and earning a Purple Heart, it wasn’t hard to guess what sort of wound he had suffered. His eyes, though, seemed to possess a sparkle to them, his smile giving evidence of an appreciation for my having taken a few seconds with him; and, when I spoke of having been in for a decade during the Viet Nam era and lucky enough to have never come close to action, he told me I had been fortunate. What stories he might have told me had there but been more opportunity was lost as we gathered our food, climbed back into the Honda and headed north. The encounter, however, brief as it was, will serve for my Fourth of July celebration this time around. These guys gave all and I count it an honor to salute them. Our officials in Washington may have forgotten the basics of what this country holds for a foundation, but some care enough to put their life on the line for it……