Monday, May 31, 2010

Please Take Time Today To Thank A Veteran!

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”


While I am grateful for all veterans who have served our great country, there is one man who stands out for me on these national days of rememberance and I wanted to pay homage to him in my blog

I met Sgt Clifton "Larry" Sutherland in 1997, both of us were embarking on our new careers at Boeing.   He quickly became a true friend and big brother to me.  

Larry served in the Air Force 822nd B Safe Side.  He was a Viet Nam Veteran and one of the proudest patriots I have ever met.   He passed away in 2002 on a visit to Washington D.C. where he had arranged a reunion with his brothers from the 822nd.  I have been told that Larry's last weekend on Earth was one of his happiest.  

I was hoping to find a cartoon that Larry drew for us prior to leaving for his trip to Washington DC.   It was sketched on a dry erase board in our office.   As I recall, it had a characture of himself with the Viet Nam War Memorial in the background with bold letters that said "All Gave Some, Some Gave All"  and a little note of  farewell.

The cartoon above is one of Larry's and there is a memorial site located here that warmed my heart when I came across it this week. 

Please take time today to say THANK YOU to the men and women who have given their lives to ensure our freedoms and to those who are currently serving our cause in the Middle East.

God Bless our Veterans!


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