My mom told me recently that when she and my dad were first married and my dad was in Korea (U.S. Army - infantry), she would send him cookies. One of his sisters was able to get paint cans (before their insides ever saw paint, of course) for her to send the cookies overseas. He's now 81 years old. My brother and family went to Washington, D.C. for summer vacation and took a lot of photos at the Korean War Memorial. After they looked at the photos together, my dad talked with them a little about what all he did and saw there. I'm 43 and I have never heard him discuss it. He has a photo album, which I did see him showing my nephew once at a family get-together.

My aunt Margaret was a U.S. Army nurse, flying patients home and supplies overseas.

I did my graduate student clinical rotations at Hines V.A. Extended Care Center. I got way, WAY more out of it than I ever put in. I was there 2 days a week, 2 semesters and for six weeks during the summer quarter in between, so most of the year. The unit I was assigned to had 60 residents. Most had served in W.W. II and/or Korea; there were just a couple who had been in Viet Nam and just a couple who had been in W.W. I. One of the W.W. I had been an officer and had all his metals framed and hanging on the wall in his room. One day I asked him to tell me about a couple of them. I wish I'd had a tape recorder that day.

Raising my cup of decaf in a toast for my dad, Auntie Margie and "my guys" (and the two women) on 1B.