by Linda Smith

Created on: April 21, 2008   Last Updated: June 11, 2008

An Old Soldier's Parade Rest
Grandpa Henry was a veteran of World War II. He was also a veteran of the Korean Conflict, although we could never tell the difference. All we really knew was that Grandpa Henry was a veteran and he had a Purple Heart medal.
His medal was kept in a little black box on his dresser. Grandma would let us look at it and hold it as long as we put it back carefully. She explained that it represented more than just the injury Grandpa Henry had suffered. It represented his whole group of friends from that time. We never knew what the injury was that Grandpa Henry suffered because he wouldn't talk about it.

My cousins, me, and my sister Jennie always had fun on Veterans Day. When you have a family member for whom that holiday is so very important, it gets celebrated much like the Fourth of July. So Jessie and Ethan, their parents Aunt Tonya and Uncle Dave, Bernice (she liked to be called Nicee) and her parents, Aunt Deb and Uncle Frank and our family always got together, with our grandparents, at our house on Veterans Day. Our town always did a huge parade and had fireworks. Living in the Mid West, in America, means that patriotic holidays are very big affairs.
This year, for the first time, Grandpa Henry was going to march in the parade. We all would go and sit along the sidewalk, eating hotdogs and cotton candy and waving little flags, with Grandpa Henry and Grandma in lawn chairs behind us. But this year was different. My mom told me that Grandpa Henry had received a special letter from a retired general asking him to be in the parade. She said it was a very great honor.
Our house wasn't very big; certainly not big enough to hold a dozen or so people comfortably; but for some reason, everyone wanted to camp out in our living room. I gave up my room to Grandpa Henry and Grandma.
My sister Jennie was little, only six years old. She never meant to be mischievous, she just liked snooping into things. Nicee saw that Jennie was playing in Grandpa Henry's suitcase. He had one of those huge, old-fashioned trunk kinds. You could practically play house in it. It would be later that Nicee would tell us about how sneaky Jennie was that day.
Uncle Frank was the only one in the family who wasn't fond of Veteran's Day. He was Grandpa Henry and Grandma's youngest son and he had served in the Army too. He never, ever talked about it and he didn't have any medals.
The night before the parade was noisy and fun. My mom ordered pizza for us kids and

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