Veteran's Day

Today is a day we should all honor anyone who has spent any time in our military.  My Dad put in 21 years in the US Navy; my Uncle spent 28 years in the Army; my brother-in-law has 28 years in the Marines.  Two of the boys I went to school with ended up being career military - Tommy Rayburn is a career Air Force man, and Donny Davis is a career Army man.  We owe thanks to any men or women who have placed their lives at stake for the security of the United States of America.
One of my ancestors came to the US as a bond servant - he signed away six years of his life, working on a tobacco plantation in Maryland, to become a free man in the New World.  And once he had achieved his freedom, he backed the Cavaliers in the only British Civil War battle fought in America, and lost his 10 acres and bolt of cloth given him after six years of hard labor.  My many-times great grandfather Tunnel fought his battle for the Lord Baltimore, and won his part of it; but he had to surrender when the rest of the forces ran.  He ended up in Virginia in 1643, a free man, with nothing that belonged to him.  When he passed away, he owned over 700 acres of prime farm land.
Several ancestors were Minute Men in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine. They fought on the side of the Colonies, against British rule.  Men in the family also served in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and one of our great tragedies, on both sides in the US Civil War.  Relatives and ancestors fought and died in the Spanish-American War, the Great War, World War II, the Korean War, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I am proud to be an American.  I am proud that my ancestors and relatives were brave and strong enough to represent our families, and our country, in all of the conflicts that have occurred since the settlement of North America. 
I thank each and every member of the US military for their blood, sweat, tears, time, and lives.  God bless all of you.