The Iwo Jima War Memorial is one of the most indelible pictures of World War II. Each and every year this is the day we remember our veterans that served in the military past and present. Veterans like both of my grandfathers, my father, my brother, and my boss/brother-in-law.
Last Sunday on our flight home from Chicago I was reading the book “Flags of our Fathers”. It's a book about the lives of the men that you see in the photo above and the battle they fought on a small dirt mound in the Pacific named Iwo Jima. As I was reading there was an older gentleman next to me that began rifling thru his wallet. He nudges me a bit and asks”Like the book?”, I said yes. He then hands me a photo of him as a young man sitting at the controls of a B-29 bomber. He was a waist gunner and flew out of Saipan, they would stop on Iwo Jima to refuel on their way to and from bombing runs over Japan. He was the oldest crewman on the plane at the ripe old age of 23. 6,800 men were killed and 20,000 were wounded in one of the fiercest battles of WWII for what some would call a gas station, but it was the major turning point of the war in the Pacific by allowing B-29's to strike deep into enemy territory and ultimately lead to the end of the war.
The gentleman next to me just turned 89 and was on his way to see his great-grandchildren. As we talked I thanked him for his service and encouraged them that people of my generation have not and will not forget what all of our veterans have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice to keep our country free. So thank a veteran this weekend.
–Mr. Simply Sam
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