Remember

(Yes, three blog posts in one day. I've been neglecting my post, and making up for lost time)

Today is Memorial Day. It's a day to stop and think about these young guys in their 20s who are dying for the cause over in Iraq - whether or not you agree with the war. Their young lives are over. It's a chilling realization.

I also think about my great-uncle Tom, who died as a young officer during World War II. I never got to meet him, obviously, but I got to visit the monument erected in his honor in the French village of Wissous, just outside of Paris.

His aircraft underwent enemy fire and went down over the village, and the pilot steered the plane away from the church and crashed into a wall instead. It was a Sunday morning, and the entire village would have been killed had the plane crashed into the church. The villagers streamed out of the church, I am told, to see what happened. My great-uncle was shot by German artillery as he jumped from the plane. He never had a chance. The villagers thoughtfully buried the men in shallow graves until the bodies could be transported to their final resting places.

One of the villagers, who was just a child at the time, contacted my grandfather and invited him to Paris for the unveiling of the memorial. This was about 17 years ago or so. My grandfather learned French and accepted the honor on his brother's behalf, speaking fluently. (My grandfather is the smartest man I have ever known).

My grandparents made friends with several of the villagers and these are the people I was able to meet and spend the day with on my trip, which was about 13 years ago now. They showed me a model of the aircraft that went down. We visited the crash site, and I saw the church. And I saw the beautiful memorial, and traced along the letters carved in marble with my finger... WILKINS.(I'll try to scan and add some photos soon).

Losing someone you love is a wound that time can numb but can never heal, and I know my grandfather never stopped missing his brother. I often think about the cousins I would have had, and how our family would have been even fuller and happier with him there. All we have are his medals and photos, and a gorgeous oil painting of him that my grandfather painted. And now my son (Nathan Thomas) bears his name, in honor of the brother my grandfather loved so much. The war hero.

Happy Memorial Day.