This Veterans Day, not only should we all pay special thanks to those who have served to keep us free, but we need also this year to keep someone special near and dear to our hearts in mind.

Steve’s son Joshua will be leaving for his first tour of duty in Iraq on Tuesday, Nov. 11th, 2008.

He follows a long tradition of Swanson men who have served.  He serves with integrity and vigor and I know he will succeed on this mission.

We should all keep him in our thoughts.

I especially would like to make sure that his immediate family, his beautiful bride Sara, their new baby Joshua, and their daughter Kaylie (and, of course, his mother Tammy) know that we will all keep vigil for his safe return.

Also, this year, in memory of those who served in WWI, I would like us to remember the poem:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lt.-Col. John McCrae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This poem was cited by none other than Linus in “What have we learned, Charlie Brown?“

To all those who have served and those who will or are now serving, I, my family, owe our eternal gratitude, as do we all.