I did what I've done for several years. Put on my kilt, joined the rest of the folks from the pipe band and play our way through the small town where we are officially from, and where we practice. The Legion guys lead the way, we pipe them to the cemetary followed by a couple of fire trucks, then the boy scouts and the middle and high school bands. After the high school band goes past, the folks watching the parade join in and follow us to the cemetary.

The Legion post commander placed a wreath at the memorial to the town's war dead (a surprising number considering the size of the town), the fire fighters, 6 of the 7 were combat vets, placed a wreath between fire fighter boots and helmet, a State Senator talked for about 5 minutes, local pastor gave a short prayer, we played Amazing Grace, the honor guard fired a sulte, a trumpeter played taps and that ended it. The fire fighters were the only variance from the last several years.

We do this not because we owe it to the "elite" - but because of the debt we owe to our friends, brothers, fathers and grandfathers (for the younger ones) who were drafted ("called" is the usual word at ceremonies like this) from "regular" life, high school in the case of WWII, and went off to fight a war they did not start. We do this because they were willing to act at a time when cynicism was not quite so rampant. We remember those who went and did not come back - just as we remember the boys (literally) who left and came back as shades of their former self. My father was drafted into WWII two weeks after his 18th birthday - the guy living next to us when I was a kid was drafted 2 weeks after graduating from high school. He went to Viet Nam and came back a changed person. The officer types aren't why we're there. We go there for the ones who were sent whether they wanted to go or not.

Pete