I received an email this evening I wish to share. It’s from a Marine so you’ll see the obvious bias. All I receive from Tom is Marine stuff. When we were upcountry and a fellow airman was shot down, he invariably would be surrounded by the Pathet Lao. Surrender was a delayed death sentence. Most chose to fight bravely to the end. There was nothing more mournful than to hear one of these in progress and the inevitable final message sent to  38th ARRS-  “Raven reports negative objective”. Unfortunately the communists didn’t see fit to even repatriate the remains.

When 2nd Lt. James Cathey’s body arrived at the Reno Airport , Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine’s casket last year at Denver International Airport , Major Steve Beck described the scene as powerful: ‘See the people in the windows? They sat right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what’s going through their minds, knowing that they’re on the plane that brought him home,’ he said. ‘They will remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They’re going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should.’

The email directed me to start wearing the color blue every Friday to show my support for our military and, by extension, all Veterans. I intend to start doing so. Thank you for this, Tom. It disturbs memories I’d rather not, but that need disturbing more frequently.