What Veterans Day Means to Me

On November 11 it will be another Veterans Day to acknowledge our living veterans. Veterans have always had a huge impact on my life. When I was growing up I was fortunate to have listened to stories told by my Great Grandfather who fought in The Great War. I have a picture of the ship he served on in 1918 hanging in my office today and it is a great reminder. My dad’s father was in Oahu in the navy when it was attacked on December 7, 1941 and later he met my Grandmother at a Navy Hospital in Curaco. My Grandmother was a Navy Nurse in WWII and eventually worked at the White House for President Franklin Roosevelt’s family. On my mother’s side my grandfather, whom I never met, was on the guard ski patrol during WWII in the Alps as an army soldier. I have seen those pictures of him from my uncle as he related those stories he was told when he was growing up.  I am fortunate to listened to many hours of veteran stories told by my grandparents and am lucky some were recorded in a family genealogy binder I can pass on to my three sons.

I do remember listening to my grandparents talk about the veteran stories they heard from veterans of the Civil War and the Spanish American War. Unfortunately I never recorded those detailed stories but remember them being mentioned to me as a child. I can almost feel a link to those veterans as well. My father told me that when he was a child growing up in Virginia he remembered watching the parades with Confederate veterans from the Civil War. Later my father was drafted in army during the Vietnam War and although he did not go there he imbued upon me what it meant being in during that turbulent time in American history.

When I joined NROTC at Marquette University I participated in the Veterans Day parades in Milwaukee. I always felt guilty that crowds were cheering for our NROTC group because we had not earned the title of veteran. But we were a good representation of the veterans maybe when they were younger. In my active duty days in the navy I did not pay too much attention to the veterans as it seemed I was too busy living in my military world to think about that. However, I do remember a time I was on my ship and we pulled into Palma de Marjoca Spain and went to the bar. A group of naval officers (including myself) ran into some elderly Englishmen who told us about the WWII Battle of the Bulge they were involved in. Then afterwards they drank us young Sailors under the table.

While I was active duty in the military I never imagined being one of those people you see marching around in their American Legion or VFW Hats. That changed when I left active duty and I joined the reserves and became involved with those veteran groups. It was a pleasant surprise at the amount of comradery I experienced. I felt I adopted a second family I could talk with as I sat at the veteran clubhouse bar and listened to the stories from those veterans. Sadly, I remember hearing the stories from our WWII veteran members. Now there are none.

I was recalled to active duty in 2008 – 2009 to go to Iraq to be part of “The Surge”. I ran into comrades I had not seen for over 20 years 10,000 miles away from home. While in Baghdad I ran into a retired USMC General who was a contracted state department employee and he saw my name on my uniform. “Do you know a Bernard Balch?” he asked me and I expressed that yes he was my grandfather’s brother and he had passed away in 1994. The retired general told me that when he was a green 2nd LT in the Marines in the early 1960s he happened to run into Commodore Bernard Balch at Dam Neck Naval Base in Virginia and had some professional development training from him – at Officer’s Club on the base. It was an unbelievable link to the past to experience this connection. 

Not too long ago, before I retired from the navy, I was asked to speak to a group of Midshipmen at the University of Minnesota NROTC about my experiences as a newly commissioned officer.  During my 20 minute speech I felt like I imparted great advice, although the TOP GUN movie references seemed to fly over their heads. After my grand speech one of the Midshipmen seemed very anxious to talk to me so I pulled him aside. He told me he remembered coming to my house on the base in Hawaii to go trick or treating. I told him to please go away.

So do me a favor and listen to the stories that the veterans can tell. They have very unique experiences and are a living part of our history. If you are a veteran yourself – feel proud to tell your story. Thank you veterans and God Bless.

Richard A Balch, CFP, CLU, RICP

Woodmen Financial Resources

1234 S Ridge Road

Green Bay, WI 54304

1-920-499-8833 Ext 110

[email protected]