Veterans Day 2016

A re-post with a brief postscript... Did you wonder this morning as I did how Veterans Day should be spelled? Was it Veteran's Day, Veterans' Day or Veterans Day? I wonder about it every year. This year I settled it once and for all: Veterans Day!
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Some towns honor the day with parades, flowers, and flags placed on graves, patriotic songs, and memories. Any way that it is honored is good as long as it is honored. This is my town's way — the sand pile, which looks impressive, has been "engraved" with God Bless Our Troops, a flag, and a yellow ribbon.
My father served in the Korean War. Some years ago, we learned that a three times great-grandfather of mine on the distaff side had served in the Civil War; just last week, we've learned that the Civil War soldier's grandfather had served in the Revolutionary War and had probably fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill with General Putnam. Fascinating information. 
I have to smile that these men are on the "Canadian" side. My mother and grandmother were Canadians and these were their ancestors, but what I've not mentioned is that my grandmother's mother was an American, born in Gloucester, Massachusetts. (Her paternal grandfather is the Civil War soldier and her paternal great-grandfather the Revolutionary War soldier.) She became a Canadian when she married my Canadian great-grandfather (whose ancestors also hail from the U.S., but were Royalists during the Revolutionary War). 
I am proud of their service and, most of all, grateful for their service. Soldiers hold the country together through the most difficult of times with the help of Almighty God. God bless them all.

P.S. As I have continued to work with my family's genealogy, I have found more soldiers. There are more Revolutionary War soldiers and Civil War soldiers. There are two sets of fathers and sons who served together. This flabbergasts me. I am so grateful for all they did way back in the beginning. Those who stood up and fought against tyranny are the ones I most admire.