Honoring All Veterans and Service Members, but, as always, One in Particular

I am posting this for friends and family who are not on Facebook and who may not have had a chance to see this.

Honoring Veterans should not be a one day event, nor should it merely be a political photo op or an empty media gesture. As a nation, we should be vigilant about how our troops are deployed, how they are equipped, and of equal importance, how they are treated when they complete their duty and return to civilian life. Education, housing, medical care need to be improved substantially for veterans as with many other sectors of our society. 

Although I am a conscientious objector who refused induction into the military during the Vietnam War, and although I have opposed every American military incursion since then on rational and moral grounds, I honestly and sincerely honor all my friends and former students who have served and who are serving in our military. If you serve with honor, you deserve to be honored.

And, of course, as always, we are particularly proud to honor my father, Melvin Dayne McMullen, President of the Inland Empire Chapter of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society and former National Commander of CBIVA (China, Burma, India Veterans Association) who served as a nose gunner with the Flying Tigers in WWII.

Mel McMullen, in uniform, circa 1944, from the book,
When Tigers Roared, by Jeffrey B. Greene.

 Mel McMullen, nose turret gunner, in front of his crew's plane, DRAGON LADY, 
circa 1943-44, from the book, When Tigers Roared, by Jeffrey B. Greene.

Flying Tigers patch from the pages on Mel McMullen, in the book,
When Tigers Roared, by Jeffrey B. Greene.

Mel McMullen, on the right, National Commander of CBIVA, at a memorial gathering
(in China, I think? My parents can fill us in on this one).