This past weekend, when he was presented with a handmade quilt as a thank you for his service to the country 70-some years ago, Jefferson resident Shirley Sutherburg made the comment that nobody seemingly cared all that much when he returned home.
Nobody even tipped a hat to you, he said. “This is the first thing I have ever gotten as a thanks from the people we fought for,” he said. “I really appreciate this.”
Those of us too young to remember World War II personally may have cause to be surprised by the substance of Sutherburg’s comment, indoctrinated as we are by the seemingly endless variations of John Wayne-type American hero movies.
WWII was an all-in national effort, one that seems even greater today in light of the relatively limited engagements that followed it like Korea and Vietnam. It was a time of heroes and larger-than-life characters.
For all the blood and resources invested in the Global War on Terror, the United States today has been at war for more than 10 years, but you’d hardly know it, stateside.
WWII-era Americans did without staples like stockings and sugar and put up with rationed gasoline as a patriotic duty.
Modern Americans have been asked to do exactly none of that and respond by complaining about high gas prices.
As Americans we can’t thank our veterans enough.
Whether they held down a hard pressed, peace time post in Panama, or somehow survived action in all seven theaters of WWII as did Harold Morton Sr., they have all done their part in protecting the freedoms we all enjoy today.
There is never a good time not to thank a veteran.
We commend, too, the Lincoln County Quilters, a volunteer group of enthusiasts who have taken it upon themselves to ensure that each Lincoln County veteran receives a handmade quilt.
It may come years after the fact; it can’t wipe away the horrors of war, and it won’t bring back friends long gone, but it’s a gesture from the heart, and as men like Shirley Sutherburg indicate, it still counts.
