Dan's Papers - November 7, 2008 - Veterans Day And The North Fork

There'll be any number of speeches next week, any number of ceremonies honoring our veterans. And rightly so. November 11 is a day reserved for those who served in the United States military - and, in turn, served you and me. And though you and I speak endless words of praise for veterans, our praise is but pale reflection of the gratitude we feel.

I got to thinking about those words - Veterans Day. Not the holiday they suggest but rather as a day in the life of a veteran, any veteran. After all, isn't that why they served? That each ordinary day, one after another, be there for us, safe for us, full of opportunity for us.

Here on the North Fork there are lots of veterans fully living the days of their lives. Days so precious that attention must be paid. Come now and see how ordinary men and women, veterans all, fill their ordinary days.

Gale Alexander, a U.S. Army veteran, spends his days in Southold with his wife Julie. Or at least Gale spends most of his days in Southold. Fact is, he frequently drives to the D.C. area to help care for a family member who is ill. And every so often Gale and Julie travel to a church convention. The represent First Universalist Church in Southold where their volunteer work is considerable and loving.

Gale admits to spending some of his veteran days in the kitchen. Yes, he cooks - even preparing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. His favorites are his casseroles. Easy to see Gale is a vet who realizes a family, as well as an army, travels on its stomach.

Now here are two women veterans who do spend some time in their kitchens but their vet days are filled with all kinds of other stuff. Cutchogue's Claire Foos, for example, a WAVE during WWII, is an active member of Southold/Peconic Senior Citizens and Southold American Legion. Right now Claire is planning a Pearl Harbor program for Sunday, December 7 at the legion hall in Southold. Oh yes, Claire stresses she cleans her home on Wednesdays - sometimes.

As for Orient's Ellie Faust? Listen to this. She was a WASP. Yep. A member of Women Airforce Service Pilots. These were the women trained to fly our military aircraft from factories to fields far-flung over the U.S. An absolutely vital service and Ellie did it. On November 11 this year, Ellie will talk about her experiences at a meeting of a women's group in Cutchogue.

I'll add that our women vets want you to know Eleanor Roosevelt, not a North Forker but certainly a New Yorker, was instrumental in the formation of both WAVES and WASP.

I live with a U.S. Army vet. You'd think, as such, my husband would make the bed and get in the kitchen like Gale and whip up a substantial meal. Not so. But, and this is a considerable but, he builds the best retaining walls in town (probably the whole North Fork) and lots of raised gardens where I can plant those tomatoes and marigolds. This vet spends his days working outside in Cutchogue, the sunniest spot in the state of New York. That last is a fact you can check out.

Aquebogue's a pretty sunny spot, too. At least that's what Don Frank tells me. He should know because he's a super artist whose watercolors reflect that light and the North Fork's beauty. (Not all Don's work is North Forky. He's got a watercolor of New York City's Central Park that could entice me to move to the Big Apple.)

Don's an Army vet. He landed on Iwo Jima shortly after our Marines did their job, made their sacrifice. Don spent a year on Iwo Jima but remembers especially spending that first landing night on the beach.

Now Don paints just about every day. You can find his work at Old Town Art and Crafts in Cutchogue.

It's pretty clear, I guess. Our North Fork vets are celebrated on November 11, of course. But all the other days of the year they work at their jobs, volunteer in their communities, paint their homes, cook up a pot of soup. Just like the rest of us who are not veterans.

Though we are all Americans, gloriously free Americans. Thanks to those veterans.