This week’s focus point…
Veterans Day Special – 2012
It was February 12, 1942. My father, Don Weedin traveled with his parents from his hometown of Bremerton, WA to Seattle to enlist in the Navy. It was two days after his 17th birthday, and just a couple short months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Dad was determined to quit high school as a junior and join the fray that was just starting in the Pacific. He was going to go on his birthday (February 10th), but my grandmother put a stop to that and said that he would spend his birthday and one extra day with his family. She already had one son in the war, and with her next going, she was scared she would see neither of them again.
To Dad’s dismay, he was sent to North Africa. As a Pacific Northwest native, he wanted to avenge his western brothers and fight in the Pacific. Instead, he was part of the North African invasion. Dad ended up spending 30 years in the Navy. A Navy that took him around the world, including Bogota, Colombia where he met my mother.
Dad wasn’t unique to men of his era, or that of many others. His call to duty to protect his fellow Americans was deep and strong. He just didn’t think himself special. He thought that was just the way everyone felt.
On this 70th anniversary year of Dad joining the Navy to fight in World War II, I humbly and genuinely thank all of our veterans for their sacrifice for us and this country. Happy Veterans Day!
This week’s quote –
“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.”
~G.K. Chesterton
© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved
