Salute

In honor of Veteran’s Day, I want to share with you about a certain vet, Richard C. Cary (yep, we’re related). To most, he went by Dick but to me, he was Dad Cary.

Over the years I’ve heard many stories (some I can’t repeat here) but my favorite one comes from his time in the army during WWII. Dad was assigned to Patton’s third army. Just out of high school, he was trained at Fort Dix before being sent to the European Theater. He celebrated his nineteenth birthday by getting his helmet creased by a Nazi bullet during the Battle of the Bulge.

If you remember your history, you’ll know that General Patton promised that his troops would move quicker and farther than even General Eisenhower thought they could. The truth of it is, that army moved farther and faster than even General Patton thought they could and he showed up to tell them so. With the men in Dad’s unit all lined up to see the general, Patton thanked them for a job well done and asked what he could do for them. Dad looked at his buddies all keeping quiet and just couldn’t stand it.

“We could use a hot meal, Sir.”

The general said he'd see what he could do. You can imagine the elation, especially after living on c-rations for days on end, when trucks bearing hot food rolled into camp the next evening. My sister-in-law recently told me that the general even helped serve the meal.

But the story doesn’t end there.

After the Nazi’s surrendered, someone noted that my father-in-law had taken a typing class in high school and assigned him to the typing pool at headquarters in Berlin. He was given the task of typing out General Patton’s stateside orders. When the general arrived to pick up the papers, he looked hard at Dad.

“We’ve met before.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re that little SOB who wanted a hot meal, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So, did you get enough to eat?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir”

It wasn’t long after that the general was hurt in that car accident and eventually died, never getting to use the orders Dad typed.

My father-in-law passed away last month. He would have been 81 next month. A lot went on during those nearly 81 years but today, I thank him and all like him who have stood in harm’s way so that we may continue to live as safely and prosperously as we do here in the United States. God has abundantly blessed us because of you.

Abundant blessings, and thank you, Dad.