The Red Poppie

Memorial Day, a moment of reflection for us as a nation of freedom.  My eyes were drawn to the card-table set up in the entry of the market where I shop and to the two very elderly gentlemen at the table, both having served in WW11.  I knew immediately that this was a Vintage moment for me as the Red Poppie has always been a part of  Memorial Day and that of my two daughters.  It was all so fresh  in my mind and heart as were the photos of my father in uniform as an Air Force pilot during the war standing next to his plane.  So young and handsome with his black hair and leather flight jacket.  It's no wonder my mother fell for him the way she did!  I spoke for a moment with the sweet gentlemen at the table surprised to find unexpected tears in my eyes.  At that moment I so wanted to greet my own father at the table with the Red Poppies but it was not to be.  Ironically, my father suffered a fatal heart attack on another plane on his way to vacation many years after his Air Force service.  My childhood memories include a parade through our little town on Memorial Day.  The coveted reciting of "On Flanders Field" at the cemetery at First Lutheran Church. A wreath tossed in the water in remembrance at the waterfront.  Vintage memories of my childhood from a still grateful heart.  I salute you my father, Lt. John Robert Gerry on this a day of remembrance.