May 25, 2026
It’s Memorial Day and we are relaxed, lumps without ambition, sprawled in our chairs. Birds sing, the air is soft and pleasant, clouds drift past, our animals laze next to Cindy and I. Chores can wait. My thoughts turn to memories of my younger days.
I think back 56 years to the Vietnam era when I was a new naval officer aboard an aircraft carrier. Though not in combat, we still had fatal accidents on my three deployments overseas. 13 killed as I recall, mostly airmen. I still see some crashes clearly in my mind. You can’t forget such things. I can only imagine what traumas combat veterans must have experienced. My grandfather almost never spoke of his World War I battles in France. Too painful, I suspect.
Warfare has existed from the beginning of humanity and there is no sign of it ceasing. The Bible says it won’t end until the last days. How sad for its multitude of victims, past and future. For us all in this sinful world. I am lucky not to have endured combat, so I feel I must attend ceremonies to honor those brave folks who fought and sometimes gave their lives. God bless all veterans and their families for their sacrifices and pain, some perhaps still carried in body or in mind. May the Lord comfort them and ease their suffering.
Randy Mynard
Captain USNR (retired), 1968-1998
