Veterans Day....

Veterans Day 2009....

Let me introduce you to one of my ancestors: William W. Chesley, born in 1845. His grandfather- Jonathan Chesley was a Veteran of the War of 1812, his great-grandfather- George Chesley was a Veteran of the Revolutionary War...

William enlisted in the F Co. 120th Inf Reg. NY on August 22, 1862. He died in Washington, DC on February 16th 1865 at Harewood Hospital of wounds he received at the battle of Hatcher's Run, Va. He came home to be buried in the family plot, Union Cemetery, Hector NY, with his parents, George and Elvira, his sister Helen and his maternal grandparents the Goulds.

For some people Veterans Day is not personal, it's just another day the "dang government employees, bank employees and postal employee's have off", but for some of us, like me, every year its personal and I think of all of my family that has served, their parents, their wives and their children that had to wait, pray, rejoice when they came home or cry when they buried their babies.

This year I add a new set of parents to my thoughts, thankful that their story had a happy ending...Thankful that Evan came home from war and frankly the thought that he was there and ever in such danger, brings tears to my eyes and makes my guts churn. So today its even more personal than its ever been.

And this year we are all spending the day together.... I had requested this day off months ago to make it special for Nate (who is very proud of his ancestral military history) by taking him to a few area museums that have some military history, and now we have Evan to join us so that makes it even more special.