I know this is a tad late, but I had to post something.

Most of us don’t have a direct connection to soldiers having fought and died for our personal lives, and giving us all the liberties that we enjoy. Also, if it weren’t for certain vets, me and my family literally wouldn’t be here.

My Grandfather, and his two sons – one of them my father, of course – were living in Manila in the Philippine Islands when Wold War II broke out, and the Japanese invaded. Oddly enough, my Dad’s new step mother was a German who had left Germany to get away from Hitler’s tyranny. (Out of the frying pan into the fire, eh?) They were in the internment camp first and Santo Thomas University, then Los Banos.

Anyway, since Dad’s family were American’s, they were all put in an internment camp. They all did well enough, at first. But as the war raged on, eventually they were trying to survive on what was basically rice water.

Two or three of the men from camp managed to escape, and eventually make their way to MacArthur’s headquarters. The army was busy with the battle for Manila at the time. But the 11th Airborne was pulled out of that fight and were trained for what would become a rescue mission.

On the morning of February 23, 1945, my family was at morning roll call, and the Japanese were doing their morning calisthenics. First a lone P-38 flew overhead. Then the prisoners noticed that the sky was filled with C-47s, then paratroopers. No one knows of this rescue, because this event happened on the same day that the Marines raised the flag on Mr. Suribachi on Iwo Jima.

Even though the Army officers had predicted 50% casualties, not one soldier or prisoner was killed. The only losses were four Philippino guerillas who were assisting the American troops.

My Grandfather, my Dad, and myself are all Navy veterans. I have a son who has a couple of years left in the Air National Guard. I have a daughter who is in the full time Army, who has just been sent over to Kuwait.

This family supports the military, and the job that they are doing over in the Middle East. God bless our troops! Especially God bless our veterans!