In honor of forgotten women
Memorial Day is a day of remembering and mourning the men and women who died while serving in our armed forces.
Every year when Memorial Day rolls around I begin to reflect on things usually kept buried, but they always bubble to the top. I’ve written a few Memorial Day articles about the friends, the men I lost in Vietnam. But this is a little different. It’s a time for honoring men and women.
I recently read “The Women,” a #1 bestselling historical novel by Kristin Hannah. It’s a touching saga about the nurses who served in field hospitals during the “Conflict.” It tells the story of a young nurse, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, who grew up in the “idyllic world of Southern California” and joins the Army to go to Vietnam.
Mrs. Hannah captures the humor, compassion and the horror that Frankie experiences during her tour. But even more so “The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters and to a country who wants to forget Vietnam.” The book shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has been too often forgotten. Particularly moving is when Frankie holds the hands of too many young wounded soldiers as they take their final breath.
You may come home with body intact, but you are never again in one piece, you never really come home. I have always had an empty place inside. Reading “The Women” has somehow been therapeutic and helped me resolve some issues.
Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.
“The world can’t give you peace, the world can’t give you serenity. We can only find it in our hearts. The good news is by the same token the world can’t take it away.” Anonymous.
In the end, we didn’t fight for God and Country or Mom and Apple Pie. We fought for each other. Veterans don’t start wars, we just fight them.
Happy Memorial Day.
Your friend,
Capt. Gill
Medals
Roberto J. Prinselaar
Don’t envy a man his medals
All those ribbons on his chest
He did not try to get them
They’re not there at his request
They were earned in stinking hellholes
Where no man would like to go
Or in cold and wintry places
Where there’s only ice and snow
He didn’t know he earned them
Till they were awarded at parade
And they were bright when he first got them
But in time the colors fade
He was told he had to wear them
And to wear them all with pride
But when the colors fade
He was told he had to wear them
And to wear them all with pride
But when the memories come to haunt him
Those same medal’s make him hide
Cause those medals will not bring back
All those guys he left behind
And he would trade them all forever
For a little peace of mind
So, don’t envy a man his medals
You don’t want to take his place
Thinking back to long gone battles
And meeting dead friends face to face
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.