Love to All our Soldiers

Just a quick post of thanks to all our soldiers and their families. Thank you, thank you, thank you for putting your life on the line for your country.

My great uncle, Staff Sgt. John Forrest Bouldin Jr., fought in World War II with the 453rd Bombardment Group. For their 182nd mission, John and 11 other soldiers took off from a base in Old Buckingham, UK. It was the morning of November 26, 1944, that they took off in their B-24 Liberator Bomber, headed for Bielefeld, Germany. They were to drop a 101-ton payload on a railway viaduct. But something went wrong, and their plane crashed in a field in Port Common, Kenninghall, Norfolk, UK, only 8 miles from take-off, having never been able to rise above 200 feet. Knowing they were going down in a field surrounded by farm houses, they dropped their load beforehand and saved the townspeople, but all 12 soldiers perished in that crash.

John came home, but not the way his family had hoped, and he was buried in Temple, Texas. His Purple Heart hangs in is brother's home, which I spent time in this weekend.

Then a few years ago, a farmer in Kenninghall was plowing his field, and 62 years after the crash there, he found John's military bracelet with his name on it. Many stories had been told of that crash over the years by the Kenninghall community. They were so grateful to the U.S. soldiers and all they did to help end the war and Hitler's march toward "The Final Solution" that they erected a memorial over there for them.

After receiving John's bracelet from the farmer who found it, John's brother Jamie erected a memorial in Pendleton, Texas, where John grew up. The memorial was not only for John, but for two other young men from the local community who died during WWII. The photo here is of the memorial stone. It has three sides, one for each of the fallen soldiers, with special sentiments inscribed by their respective families.

Today I also celebrate my closest active soldiers, my brave sons-in-law Greg and Finn (brave in large part because they married my headstrong daughters). I'll hug you when I see you. (You've been warned...)  :-)

Thank a soldier today. Unfortunately, freedom doesn't come free, and there are far uglier things than war (though surely not many).
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