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Armed Forces Day recognition

Events a time to ‘reflect’

Ray Glass (left) of Hollidaysburg and Frank Thompson of Altoona were among the Korean War veterans who were asked to stand and be acknowledged during the Armed Forces Day ceremony Saturday on the grounds of the Van Zandt VA Medical Center. Veterans of the Korean War received a pin during the ceremony. Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec

When Bill and Sandy Miller of East Freedom were getting ready to go to the Armed Forces Day ceremony at Van Zandt VA Medical Center on Saturday, Sandy said, “We should wear our Desert Storm hats.”

“Get out!,” Bill said — not because he disagreed, but because he’d had the same thought.

It was just the latest example of their frequent thinking of the same things, yet another sign of their special connection — one that is reinforced by their both having served in the Middle East in the early 1990s.

It’s a connection that expands for them at events like Saturday’s, when they get together with others who have also served in the military.

The ceremony’s keynote speaker was Altoona native Harold Stitt, who flew a Huey helicopter in Vietnam, earning a Bronze Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Purple Heart, a Meritorious Service Medal and 39 air medals.

Stitt reviewed the nation’s military history and didn’t hold back on criticism of the politicians of the 1960s and early 1970s who, he said, got the U.S. into the war, “micromanaged it, failed to pursue victory, then left our ally, South Vietnam, in the lurch.”

During his speech, Stitt asked veterans of all the U.S. conflicts since World War II — one conflict at a time — to stand and be recognized, along with the mothers of service members and all the members of “Gold Star” families, which are those who have lost a service member to war.

Cited especially were veterans of the Korean War, each of whom received a pin.

When the Millers meet with other veterans, as they did Saturday, all of them tell stories of the “good times, the bad times and the funny times,” Bill said. “We can relate,” he said.

It’s much different than talking to non-veterans, almost as though non-veterans don’t speak the same language, Bill said.

Events like Saturday’s are also a time to “reflect,” said Bill, who wanted to join the military as early as seventh grade, and whose heroes growing up were service members, such as the veterans who were honored Saturday for service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Bill said.

Saturday’s event was also a time to remember service members who currently active, Sandy said.

The Millers’ connection is also reinforced by its having been cemented long after an initial spark that went cold.

The pair went to school together at Northern Bedford, and for about a week back then, they hung out with one another, they said.

Bill was interested in more, but Sandy was going with another guy, and he didn’t want to be an example of the type who broke up a relationship.

It was 23 years later, after they’d both gone through first marriages, that they reconnected on Facebook and discovered that they’d both served in the Middle East, that they’d had many near encounters during their service times, both in the U.S. and abroad, and that they’d both felt an initial attraction during high school.

Maybe if they had acted on it then, things wouldn’t have worked out so well, Bill said.

“My bad,” Sandy said of hanging back at that time. “(But) I’m OK with waiting 23 years.”

Ultimately, “It was meant to be,” Bill said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

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