Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Veteran's Day - 11/11/14


Today is Veteran's Day -

And I want to say THANK YOU!! -

To ALL of the MEN and WOMEN who ARE SERVING -

HAVE SERVED -

or WILL SERVE -

In our nation's MILITARY - ;))

I am PROUD to have been the daughter of a World War II Veteran - ;))

Yes, I am a baby boomer - ;))

And I am PROUD to have been the wife of a Veteran who served during the Vietnam War era -;))

My husband served before we were married -

So I was never a Military wife -

But my bloggy buddy - Chris (Shared Creativity) was -

And she describes what it was like -

Quite well on her blog - HERE - ;))

===

When my husband died recently -

I put the VA file in the “Pending” accordion file for later -

I figured -
No VA pension -
And his body was donated to a medical school for research -
So -
No body -
No burial -
No funeral service -

I was wrong - ;))

When I finally got around to actually READING the VA Burial Benefits - HERE -

It turned out that I could apply for several things on his behalf -

A burial flag - HERE - which I got from the post office -

A Presidential Memorial Certificate - HERE -
Pending -

And “In Memory Of” Memorial Headstones and Markers -
Are available to those whose bodies are “donated to science” - HERE - ;))

We will have a Memorial Service soon -

Since I recently found out that his Memorial Marker was approved -

And has been installed - ;))

When I called the cemetery to arrange for the Memorial Service -

And spoke to the Specialist to arrange for the Military Honors -

He told me to bring my husband's flag -

And that an Honor Detail would fold it -

And "present" it to me -

During the ceremony - ;))

Just hearing him say that -

Brought me to tears -

So when we have the Memorial Service -

I know that I will be a blubbering mess - ;))

A VERY PROUD and blubbering mess - ;))

I was able to get him a Memorial Marker in a National Cemetery for Veterans - ;))

We didn't think that we could -

But we didn't read the fine print -

So I think that he would have liked that we actually could -

And did - ;))

And I want to THANK EVERYONE who takes this day -

To HONOR OUR MILITARY!! - ))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



6 comments:

Gene Black said...

I agree, those who serve or have served deserve to be honored.

Katie M. said...

I, too, was an "Army brat", my first husband was in the Air Force and that took me overseas, my current husband of 36 years served in Viet Nam. My G-pa was a military man, my son was in the Army and his son is talking about serving. I guess Patriotism is in our blood.
As for the Memorial service for your hubby, yes take tissues. I was presented my dad's flag at his burial and it was the most emotional time of the whole day for me. Such a great honor so I'm glad you checked further into the VA benefits.

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

Thanks, Gene - and those who will serve in the future should know that they will be honored also - ;))

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

Me, too - we thought that since there would be no "remains" that there would be no "burial" - there was nothing to bury - but the "In Memory Of" markers are meant for just that purpose - and we are thankful for that - ;))

Linda C said...

I am tearing up just reading this post---yes, I am behind catching up with you and still owe you an email. My weepiest moment this month was when my dad sent a picture of the headstone. Just seeing our names etched in stone was rough. Still, I am glad that his site is now properly marked. Your husband deserves the honor but it may be hard to get through it.

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

Thanks, Linda - It was a beautiful service - and yes, i did lose it several times - but that's OK - we all lost it at various points. And for the time being - only his name is on the marker - but I was told that when my time comes that marker will be destroyed and will be replaced with another one that includes my name - ;))

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