Editor,
Reflecting back on this past Memorial Day, I found it’s become very trendy and popular these days for people to walk up to a veteran and automatically and without emotion shake that veteran’s hand and say, “Thank you for your service.” It is said so often and without real meaning anymore that it’s more like an insincere gesture that one feels obligated to say to a veteran.
I can tell you many veterans, myself included, are getting pretty sick of it. It’s said that only about one person in ten are really sincerely thankful. I was a Vietnam veteran before it became popular, where was your “Welcome Home,” your handshakes and your thank yous back when I first came home from Vietnam?
If you really want to thank a veteran, then act like an America worth fighting and dying for!
Sonny Smith