The Veterans of Generation X are coming of age.

On the left, my Dad and I at a Memorial Day event in the early 2000's, and on the left Dad during The War 1943 or 1944 at home on leave.

     Last Saturday, 11 Nov 23, a young man named Ben was standing at a podium at a small monument reading a speech he had written.  That speech was titled something along the lines of "What is Veterans Day?".   Ben did a great job on both writing and delivering this speech.  What I loved about what he had to say was that he included the origins of how Veterans Day came about, and the fact that this holiday was first called Armistice Day.  My parents were both from the generation that were in the Second World War and always called 11 November Armistice Day.  To this day I might be the only person under 97 who uses this term today...  But this is not what I wanted to write about today.

     What struck me on that brisk Saturday morning was that Ben is a young man, just a couple years older than me.  He graduated from Bellevue Senior High School in 1987, two years prior to me.  As I listened to his speech my mind flashed back to being a child in the 1970's and seeing all my Dad's classmates take part in Memorial Day.  It seemed that there were hundreds of them!  Their generation formed the bulk of the parade that snaked through Bellevue, Ohio and ended up at the graveyard.  After the ceremony I would get to hang out in the bar at the VFW and watch them drink beer and hear some stories.  I always think of days like Memorial Day and Armistice/Veterans Day with Veterans who were in The War (I always remember hearing the term "The War" instead of WWII).

    Last Saturday seeing a Veteran who was in The War or Korea was a rare sight.  It is all the younger Veterans, Vietnam and down from there.  Along with Ben reading his speech, there was Jerry, who also was part of the Bellevue class of 1987.  Jerry has been working his bum off getting us younger Veterans to take part in events like this.  And I have to say that his efforts are starting to pay off.  Jerry was officiating the event.  Also taking part in the event was Greg, another member of the Class of 1987, Rich from the Class of 1988 and me from the Class of 1989.  The youngest was a young man named Tanner, who actually is the son of a classmate of mine.  

    Earlier in late Summer I was contacted by Ben to see if I wanted to help with the flag ceremony at our High School football games.  I was reluctant at first, but really grateful to have taken part. I will most likely join them again next year.  

   I guess it is time that my generation who Served start to take being Veterans more serious.  My time in the Service was so sedate compared to others, but I'm still grateful to have Served none the less.  Our generation were the first to rock out to MTV, we wore bright colours, had Swatch watches, had crushes on girls who looked hot in their stirrup pants, and pushed Saddam back into Iraq in 1991.  I hope in the future to see more of us 80's teens take being a Veteran more serious...and I see it happening.