THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
A day to honor
those who served
In the 11th hour on the 11th day
of the
11th month in 1918, the Armistice was signed ending World War I. The
shouting
and celebration would come later, commemorating this auspicious event
in world
history.
On November 11 each year we
observe
Veterans Day to honor all military men and women of the
President Woodrow Wilson
proclaimed an
observance of Armistice Day on
In 1953, a veteran named Al King
of
For almost two years now I have
had almost
daily contact with veterans. Most of you know that my beloved husband,
the Rev.
Grover D. Jones, who served admirably in the U. S. Navy during World
War II,
has been a resident of the Georgia War Veterans Home in Milledgeville.
Now in a
skilled nursing unit of the
Others and I have been greatly
concerned
that 81 of the mobile (still able to walk and care somewhat for
themselves)
veterans in the
The sad commentary on this
situation, to
me, has been that "no funds were available in
My cry on Veterans Day is that
Autumn for the Veterans
It
is autumn for the veterans.
Like
falling leaves their lives
Ebb
out into the great beyond.
No
fight is left.
Their
battles behind them now
They
may have nightmares about
Storm
Bivouac
at
They
may relive the trauma of
To
set a day in history: D-Day,
Operation
Overload.
Many
were at the
Tens
of thousands of young soldiers
Barely
out of boot camp
Facing
the enemy head-on.
In
this autumn of their lives
fears return,
Play
on the dark wall of memory
Where
courage again meets the enemy,
Fellow
soldiers fall on foreign soil,
Where
cities built from civilization's
cradle
Crumble
in the ruins of
war
And
innocents are set adrift or meet untimely deaths.
In
the Pacific Enola Gay bore "Little Boy"
And
Three
days later, as if more destruction ordained the victory,
Nagasaki
fell, scattered and scorched by splitting atoms.
"What
did we do?" the veterans
ask.
The
question comes in
In
noonday's red and purple fire,
In
twilight's clouds like huge mushrooms
Hovering
and smothering.
It
is Autumn for the veterans.
Spring
and Summer with
their red-hot battles
are past.
Purple
hearts and silver
stars lie in quiet
displays,
Mix
with golden falling leaves of Autumn.
Winter
is very near—
Closer than we know.
-Ethelene
Dyer Jones
c2008 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published November 13, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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