Saluting My Father

Veterans Day is an excellent time to remember the major contribution of African-American Soldiers who fought on behalf of our country. This is a picture of my father, Dr. Lawrence B. Harrison (the second soldier from the left) alongside other members of his battalion in Soleure, Switzerland, in WW2. After Germany invaded Poland, the Allied Forces along with 400,000 men of the militia-based Swiss Army defended against a German invasion of Switzerland. You can see from the grin on my father's face how proud he was to be there.

Today I am moved to honor my father, Lawrence B. Harrison, who fought in WW2; my grandfather, Wilbur M. Slaughter, who fought on the miserable German front of WW1; my step-father, Dr. Henry Wiggins, who served as a Naval Medical Officer during the Vietnam War, and my uncle, Charles Harrison Jr., who served as a topographic map-maker in the Korean war.

Today, I want to salute all veterans, but especially those African-American veterans who proudly and bravely served our country. Thank you.