Tuesday's Internet Edition, July 08, 2008. What One Hour Reveals These veterans were greeted by the author in just one hour of heightened awareness of those who selflessly served in the military forces. by Maggie Beasley - What if you spent one hour, even in a small community like Lexington, Texas, and began asking passers-by if they had served in the military. Would the number surprise you? Would you believe I met five veterans within one hour? That’s one veteran every 12 minutes. And, that’s just the ones I was able to speak with. How many did I miss? I also met veterans from old photographs who are still sorely missed after 50 years. I met grandsons from new photographs, proudly serving in the Middle East just as Granddad did in Japan. America is in a time where every living generation is now affected by war. The effects of war no longer skip a generation like after the Vietnam conflict. The war on terrorism has eliminated “the missed generation”. Just as the last of the World War I veterans were disappearing, there are now men and women, just in their 20’s, who will be tomorrow’s veterans. The price of freedom hasn’t gone down. In fact, isn’t it just a bit more brutal with technical advances? Now that we are at a time in history where many family groups include a veteran, it’s time to heighten our awareness of who has made a sacrifice in their life, including the life of their family, to ensure we Americans can sleep safely at night. November 11 isn’t a day to feel inconvenienced by a banking holiday. It’s a day to feel thankful and humble to those who served.

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