SAVE A PLATE

Thanksgiving and Christmas are a days set aside to give thanks for all the blessings that God has bestowed upon our family our country and us.

What better moment is there than to thank all the patriotic Americans in uniform who are serving as the vanguard to protect our liberty to observe these holidays?

From one who has experienced the loneliness that being away from home during the holiday season can produce, this “thank you” from a grateful nation and grateful people is most welcomed.

I remember the Thanksgiving that I spent in Germany on guard duty, deep in snow, 10-degree weather, cold, bitter and lonely. The Christmas days I spent on missions, deep in hostile enemy territory, hoping desperately for a food and ammunition resupply.

I remember the Christmas days I spent away from home training other allies to defend their country and their freedom.

I remember in 1968 sitting under a rubber tree on Thanksgiving Day in the Iron Triangle; one of the most difficult and horrendous combat zones in the Vietnam War, eating a combat ration called boned turkey. It wasn’t very tasty, in fact, having eaten the same canned food for weeks on end, it wasn’t even thought of as food just goop to keep me going.

I did think lovingly of the folks’ back home, the family get together, the roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, pumpkin pie, and other delectable dishes I was missing. But, I also thought of my mission and the reason I was away from home and family.

We were patriot soldiers just like those who are serving in uniform today. Our country had called upon us to defend a poor nation against the spread of godless communism and the ugly acts of barbarism being done by their oppressors. And we believed, for the most part, that we were fighting and sacrificing our own freedom in a just and humane cause.

Those fighting on foreign fronts today feel the same way. Our nation has called upon them to sacrifice their freedom to protect and defend the rights and freedom of another people.

Whether theirs is a just cause or one brought on by the failure of government foresight, as was the case in our war in Vietnam, will be debated throughout the years to come.

What remains is that Americans are once again in harms way during this Thanksgiving Holiday, and they must – at all costs – be appreciated and remembered.

My grandmother had an old family tradition handed down since the Civil War. Each Thanksgiving and Christmas she would leave an empty plate at the table. When I asked her whom the plate was for, she replied: “This place is reserved in case a hungry soldier comes by in need of a meal.”

I learned later on that she never truly expected anyone to show up. But, the empty plate reminded our family that there were others away from their homes and families protecting and defending the freedoms we held so dear.

Save a plate at the table and a warm spot in your heart!