Remembering Our Veterans

First of all, Happy Veterans Day - and thank you very much for your service.

I thought today would be a good day to tell Veteran's stories, funny, poignant. Please feel free to add your own.

Today is a meaningful day to me - it would have been my father's 66th birthday and he was a Vietnam Marine. 1st Division. Machine gunner. He saw an incredible amount of action when he was there and I remember hearing him tell stories growing up.

He kept a diary in Vietnam, which he later turned into a book, and there was this one story that he would tell that touched him deeply - and I felt like today would be appropriate to share that story.

So when my Dad first got to Vietnam, skinny little hispanic kid that he was, he meets this older, wiser Marine. He might have been 20. Ron Moore. He tells him - Most important thing NEVER volunteer for anything. That's how you get killed.

Ron takes my Dad under his wing. He guides my Dad. One evening my Dad comes back from patrol. He's dirty and tired, and falls asleep on the ground. That's when they get the orders 'They need a patrol and a machine gunner - wake Cookie (my Dad)'.

Ron hears this and says, "No, no. I got this." He takes off his flak jacket and throws it on my Dad.

Ron was killed on that patrol.

My Dad never forgot Ron. He always felt as if he needed to make the time count - because of Ron.

My Dad went on to be a LAPD cop for 20+ years, he was the first police chaplain of the LAPD. Became a pastor, the father of 5 girls, a local politician that would weed out the faintest hint of corruption...and if he thought things weren't happening fast enough through regular channels - he would make a fuss in the paper and start a website like stupidschoolboardmembers.com.

Anyway, Ron made a difference in my father's life and through my Dad - countless others - I wanted to remember him today. And my Dad.

Again, if you have a story about a veteran, feel free to share.