Veterns Day

You know sometimes in your family you have that one soldier that tells the story that is hard to believe, well I am no different only I have more than one, I have at least three members of my family and extended family that has those kinds of stories in thier family. One for instance would be my great uncle on my mothers side of the family he fought for two years in Korea and his story is how he got his purple heart of how a morter shell exploded near him and he to this day is carrying shrapnel in his leg. My Grandfather who would laugh about his time in World War II saying all he did was peel potatoes because he stayed in trouble but something tells me he wasn't telling the entire truth because he would get that glassy look and stare for a while lost in memory. Or the two uncles I have who both fought in Vietnam one was dropped on his back from a Hewy from fifty feet, and the other who was hit by a morter shell but watched his best friend get hit by that same morter and we killed by it. Today though I'm going to tell you of one though in my family that has spread like wild fire through the ranks of the family mainly because it was a famous ship that was involved, my Uncle Woodrow Terry, he was a spitfire of a man who didn't take much off anyone, and he felt my father was one of his own sons. Uncle Woodrow, was on the U.S.S Indianapolis, they hadn't done a lot on the sea but he was in the Navy and they were called upon to travel across the ocean and deliver the atom bomb because the war in the Pacific was getting harder and harder and so they went. They made thier delievery and on their way home when on July 30th 1945 U.S.S Indianapolis was hit by a torpedo and sunk in only a few minutes, my Uncle said he was floating on a plank of wood for three days with the horrors of his friends deaths all around him. Not only did the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine kill many of the crew, but the sharks were having thier turn, but it wasn't only that the dehydration, and exposure was also took thier toll. No food, no water they could drink, it was a luck and the grace of God that the PV-1 Ventura crew spotted them in the water, only 316 survivors were found and rescued, Uncle Woodrow was one of the survivors. On this day let's raise our brave men and women of the armed forces above on our shoulders they have carried us it's time we allowed them to shine brighter than they already do. So remember when a child asks you, what is that man in the uniform was, tell him that is a soldier, he protects his country and his country is our country. So when a freedom cries for help no matter where, I do believe President Rosevelt put it best:

"With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God."