Land of Lincoln

 Jack Malloy and Erin Maylett
Those are the stars of La La Land 2. It'll be the next blockbuster! The next tony award winning broadway musical....or off-broadway hit...but more likely so far off broadway you'll only catch it in the airport terminal while waiting for the honor flight to board. Not this time, no. Next time he comes through--he claims he has to brush up on his dancing first, he can still sing, though! But next time, he'll keep an eye out for me. I hope there's a next time. He was awesome!

I've never seen the movie, but he came up and said I am just like the main girl. Then we started talking old musicals. And the war. He served in the pacific. Told him my grandpa served there, too. Jack said it was a great privilege to serve over there, "though there aren't many of us left."

Jack. He's a character. After a whole day walking around D.C. He was still up walking around unaided. Some of the Vietnam vets were joking that he had the wrong color shirt--he's too spry to be WWII. He got a good chuckle out of it. As they vets were lined up to board the plane, I stopped by and he was telling the Vietnam people by him about our starring roles in La La Land 2--they were so confused. Haha, but then he asked how old I was. I said almost 30, and he heard 13--it was loud at that point. He said I look closer to 13 than 30--I look so young. (Vietnam guy chimed in with, "Well, everyone will look young to you!) I asked how old he is--91. He could pass for 75-80 easily, but as he pointed out, he has to be old to have fought in WWII. (Which only brought to mind my story from the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor...I swear I was born in the wrong decade.)

Then there was Sonny. Sonny would dance to me from across the terminal, but he would stop as soon as we met up and say he can't dance. Especially not in front of his daughter who was serving as his guardian. She laughed and told me he dances all the time. Haha. So he went to introduce me to his buddy who dances, Gordon. Sonny and Gordon have known each other since middle school! They're Korean vets, Air Force...peanuts! What did he call him?...Air Force...not flyboy...😫It was something else. I think. I don't remember, but he had a class ring sort of thing, and he did fly. Sonny was Navy. They were teasing each other, brought up an old girlfriend Gordon tried to steal from Sonny in High School

One Vietnam vet told me he wished his parents had lived long enough to see the WWII memorial. They both served. She joined the army in hopes of seeing her husband during the war--he was army--didn't happen. He served in the pacific and Far East, his wife in England as an operator.  Her sister, who joined the navy WAVES, did see him. Three times in fact, and rubbed it in her sister's face for years. 😂

Another Vietnam vet told me about a letter he received from the son of one of the men in Iwo Jima. Something about how his parents were brought together by the man at Iwo Jima? ...I don't quite remember the details, but I know that he said the son sent the letter on behalf of his dad. And his dad was at Iwo Jima, and had something to do with the vet's parents, so when he saw the memorial he got choked up.

To me, it has always been fascinating history. To these men, it was their life. They lived through it, they experienced it. I love being able to hear their tales, see how life has turned out for them--it makes the history richer, and brings it to life. Such terrible and amazing things happened all over the world, and these men saw it first-hand--they played a part in its outcome.

It is such an honor to meet these men. It really is like hanging out with my grandpa for a couple of hours.