>Thanks

>Today is Veteran’s Day and we honor those who have served our country. In Bessemer a Veteran’s Day program will take place at 12:00 noon at Watermark Place at the Discovery Alabama Event Center. Retired Col. Dan Fagan U. S. Air Force will be the speaker. Lunch will be available.

In Birmingham the nation’s oldest Veterans Day Parade takes place beginning at 1:30 starting near Linn Park on 19th Street.

This picture is of my father, a World War II Veteran. Thank you dad, for serving our country. The United States exists today because of your generation.

He fought in the Rhineland, in the Central Europe campaign, and then in Luzon in the Pacific Theater. He received the Philippine Liberation Ribbon, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Here is a video honoring all Veterans, including one from Alabama.

Here is a preview of songwriter Tom Goss’s new single Lover which will be released November 18.

The song tells the story of a gay man whose partner is killed in battle.

Thank a Veteran today.

>Western Tribune column October 14, 2009, war memorials

>I am adding some pictures from my recent trip to DC to this column. For pictures from the National Equality March see my (first) article about the event here.

Western Tribune column

While in the nation’s capital I was able to revisit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and to visit for the first time the National World War II Memorial.

Having grown up during the Vietnam War I feel fortunate that none of my close friends or older brothers died in that conflict. But like most Americans who are old enough I remember watching day after day the news reports about the conflict, and anyone of my generation can’t help but be moved knowing that so many our lives were affected by it.

Nearby the more recently constructed National World War II Memorial stands as a testament to those of my father’s generation who fought and gave their lives to protect our freedoms. Water and structure combine to reflect the Atlantic and Pacific theatres of that war, and there is too much imagery to describe in this column.

But one aspect of the memorial deserves mention. On the walls are bas relief depictions of various aspects of the war effort in both Europe and the Pacific. On the Atlantic side the progression ends with a scene in which the American forces and the Russian forces meet with a handshake in Germany.

It is an interesting scene in light of the commie scare coming from a letter writer who claims that communists were accumulating in the State Department “from before World War II until today because of our support of Russia and her leaders.”

While cooperation between the United States and Russia was necessary to defeat the Germans it can hardly be said that we have supported Russia in all the years since. Ever hear of the “Cold War”?

I shouldn’t be wasting my time trying to refute someone who re-writes history to fit their agenda.

Over the weekend President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Everyone, including the president’s staff, was caught off guard with this recognition, and some are saying it’s a little early for a peace prize seeing how the president has yet to decide whether to ramp up the effort in Afghanistan or begin to bring the troops home.

But those who voted for that award are recognizing Obama’s commitment to peaceful solutions where possible. We will have to wait and see what he decides for Afghanistan.

And in a few decades, I suppose my children will be visiting a memorial commemorating the efforts in that war and the Iraq war.