I never thought much about military veterans until my cousin and uncle had died. Of course, I knew veterans were men and women who defended our country in the military, but they had no relevance in my life until I experienced those funerals.

When my elderly cousin had died, men in military uniforms had shown up at the cemetery. It was a rainy and dreary day. They carried the coffin inside the building and placed the United States flag upon it. After the service, a veteran spoke while another vet played “Taps” on his trumpet outside in the rain.

I felt moved by the Am Vets chaplain’s words and had to find it online to write it out word for word. “Every veteran stood one day in solemn pledging of himself to service of his God, his country and his fellow-men, in time of war, in time of peace… Our departed comrade one day left home and loved ones to go out across the world, over land and sea as ordered, to fulfill that sacred oath. He offered Himself on the altar of patriotism for the nation he loved. Only those who have suffered the wounds of war, physical and mental, can know the cost of sacrifice that is often necessary for fulfilling such an oath.” [i]

The words went into my mind and resonated with me throughout the day. Having never given much thought to what a veteran had experienced, I now understood the valiant sacrifice each member of the Armed Forces gave to us, the citizens of this country, for protection and peace.

A few months later, my uncle, Robert C. Amico, passed away, and there were Am Vets at his funeral, too. After the mass was over in the church, the Am Vets did the burial ritual in the church because it was too cold to go to the cemetery. It was the same presentation with the flag on the coffin, and the trumpeter playing “Taps,” but veterans shot rifles outside this time.

I felt like I did at my cousin’s funeral – privileged to be in the company of such honored men who served our country and now serve other veterans who have lost their lives.

One of the Am Vet veterans, outside shooting the rifle, came into the church. He walked bent at the waist and looked in severe pain. I felt sorry for him, and it looked as if it caused him great pain to walk, let alone fold the United States flag up in the military style before giving it to the family.

What happened next moved me to tears. When the veterans saluted my uncle’s life, the man with the hunched back stood up straight and held his hand high to his forehead. I watched his face and could see the agony in his eyes, but he still stood up straight and tall with honor.

After the funeral, the family, friends, and veterans went to breakfast. I was so touched by what I had seen in the church I thanked the hunched man for attending the funeral and honoring my Uncle Bobby.

The man straightened himself up, clearly in pain, and said, “He was a soldier for our country, and anyone who served this country deserves to be honored with dignity and respect.”

It was at that moment that I got it; I saw what it meant to be a veteran, a person who willingly gave their freedom, time, and possibly physical or mental well-being or life, to serve a bigger purpose – to protect our country.

It made me feel honored to live in a country where men and women so graciously gave of themselves for the greater good. And I felt patriotism being in the presence of a man who put his health aside to honor a veteran of the United States Army.

God bless America!

[i] AmVets Prayer Manual