Father God,
protect our troops,
our favoured sons and daughters,
keeping peace in foreign lands
and sailing distant waters.
Here, beneath
the northern sky,
from shore to glorious shore,
we're praying for their safety
as they face the threat of war.
Grant them
wisdom and courage
for the perilous job they do,
and in support of her troops,
keep Canada strong and true.
Guide and
guard our forces, Lord.
Lead them - each step of the way.
Bless and keep their families.
Bring them safely home to stay.
© 2003
Terri McPherson
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
We
Support You ~ Magnificent Site!
WHAT IS
A VET?
Some veterans
bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar,
a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside
them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the
leg--or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's alloy forged
in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men
and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You
can't tell a vet just by looking.
What is
a vet?
He is the
cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two
gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't
run out of fuel.
He is the
bar room loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown
frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales
by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She - or
he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep
sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the
POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come
back AT ALL.
He is the
Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat--but has saved
countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang
members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the
parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with
a prosthetic hand.
He is the
career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him
by.
He is the
three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence
at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory
of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them
on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the
old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket -- palsied now and
aggravatingly slow -- who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and
who wishes all day long that his wife was still alive to hold him
when the nightmares come.
He is an
ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being--a person who offered
some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country,
and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice
theirs.
He is a
soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is
nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the
finest, greatest nation ever known. We will never be able to repay
the debt of gratitude we owe.
~Author
Unknown~
Click
the flag to go to the next page.
Photos used to create the top banner are from the Canadian
Department of National Defense web site which states:
Copyright/Permission to Reproduce for Non-commercial
Reproduction:
Material on this site has been posted with the intent
that it be readily available for personal and public non-commercial
use and may be reproduced, in part or in whole and by any means,
without charge or further permission by the Department of National
Defence. We ask only that: Users exercise due diligence in ensuring
the accuracy of the materials reproduced; The Department of National
Defence be identified as the source department; and The reproduction
is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced,
nor as having been made, in affiliation with or with the endorsement
of the Department of National Defence.
