Sun Valley Jose Mier Salutes Our Heroes
We’re not here to talk about Sun Valley Jose Mier today but about all the other people who have served this country and who live in Sun Valley, California. Today is Veterans Day and we just wanted to take some time out of the day to remind you about the sacrifice so many millions of veterans have made over the years to keep this country free and safe.
You may not realize—unless somebody’s sporting a bumper sticker or other form of identification on their vehicle or perhaps on a hat–but there are many veterans who have fought in America’s wars over the years who now make Sun Valley their home.
As we said you may not realize it, but we wanted to share one small story. Several years ago one of our staff got to meet and become friends with an older gentleman named Jack. They both played trivia at one of the nearby bars in the area. After meeting him our staff member learned that he had been at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. At the time he met him Jack was already in his 90s, but that never slowed him down and up until the end of his life he continued to drive himself around the area. If you looked at Jack you’d swear he was in his 70s. Other than the Pearl Harbor survivor license plate on his truck there’s no way you could tell by looking at Jack that he was one of America’s cherished veterans. But he was. Jack passed away on his 98th birthday last year.
You may see an older gentleman in line at Costco or filling up his tank at the gas station and not give him a second thought, but that same man may have been at Pearl Harbor or fought in the Battle of the Bulge. While we’re safe in our homes and going about our daily business we have people in our midst who may have fought for their lives in hand to hand combat, been captured by the enemy, held prisoner or mistreated. When we can we need to recognize these veterans and honor them. But when we don’t let’s just assume, especially for our older vets, that they served their country when asked.
And even when dealing with younger men and women you never know if they’ve been on the battlefield in some of our more recent conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan so let’s treat one another as if they were even if we don’t know.
Again we just wanted to take today and use it to mention those special people especially those in Sun Valley who should be honored on this day.
