Veteran's Day

Thank you to all of veterans as well as those currently serving in the armed forces for risking your lives to ensure the freedom the rest of us take for granted. As I sit here at work, I can't help thinking it's a shame that corporate America doesn't do more to recognize our veterans. If you know any veterans or soldiers, buy them lunch or do something kind for them today. Many veterans, even decades later, still have trouble talking about their experiences in combat, and deserve a great deal of respect and recognition for subjecting themselves to emotional trauma, not just physical trauma.

And I would like to take this opportunity to recognize one particular veteran - Gene Morgan. Gene was a good friend of my grandfather and was a very nice man. I still have fond memories of being in high school and college and going to UW football games with my grandfather, Gene, and another friend of theirs named Irv. Anyway, Gene was on the USS Indianapolis in WWII and was asleep at the time the ship was torpedoed and sunk. For those unfamiliar with the story of the Indianapolis, there were 1,196 men on board when it was sunk, approximately 300 went down with the ship, and the remaining 900 floated in shark infested waters with no food or water for 4 days, and by the time they were rescued, only 316 were still alive. I've never personally heard Gene talk about his experience, but you can listen to an interview he gave to the Discovery Channel a few years ago for a special they were doing about the Indianapolis. So thank you Gene for enduring this horror for my sake, and thank you to all of the other men in uniform as well.