America is the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
I'm a Vietnam veteran and have been subjected to Agent Orange and its damages. So I can appreciate not just knowing about, but have paid the price for the freedoms we enjoy. So I feel I have a right to express my feelings about the freedoms that we have, and the cost that has been paid for that freedom.
While at the veterans' hospital last week, I was honored to meet somebody that I never thought I would meet. My wife and I stopped at the cafeteria to get something to eat and it was full. There was only one place to sit that would take wheelchairs, so we sat next to an elderly gentleman who I learned was 81 years old and a young man in his late 20s.
As soon as I pulled my wheelchair up to the table the elderly gentleman put out his hand and shook hands with me. He was at the hospital and was a veteran getting care. His voice was very weak and he asked me if I was in the Air Force, I guess because of the hat I was wearing. He told me that he was in the Air Corps and asked me if I knew what that was. I told him I did. He said he was a pilot in World War II and flew B-25 bombers.
When I was in Vietnam I had a chance to see an operating B-25, and actually sat in the pilot seat. I also remember seeing for the first time the dramatic change of the technology of the B-25 compared to the F-4 Phantom fighter aircraft that I was the crew chief of at that time. What a drastic difference!. I can also remember thinking you had to be pretty darn tough to fly one of these B-25s, I was 19 years old and it was almost impossible for me just to get seated in the pilot seat it took a tremendous effort just to do that.
The young man said that one of his eardrums are completely blown out and has only about 1 percent hearing in the other ear, and all this happened because of his flying that aircraft. He said he has been deaf like this since World War II.
What a price this man has paid not being able to hear his family, including his grandchildren, speak!
I realized then that I had just shaken hands with a real live hero! Someone who has paid the price for the freedom I have enjoyed from the day of my birth! Because of him I was able to enjoy with freedom my family. I had one regret; I should have given him a big hug! I had the opportunity and did not take it. But I had been honored to shake his hand and that is the memory that he gave to me! A Real Live Hero!
Rick Jasna
e-mail: rj5712@cebridge.net
Sallisaw
