Admittedly not one to make much of anniversaries…

…largely because I forget them, especially wedding anniversaries, there was a date on the calendar this week that warranted my attention.

On May 25, 1968, 40 years ago to be exact, our ship returned from Vietnam.

The aircraft carrier Ranger docked at a pier in Alameda, on the Oakland side of the San Francisco Bay. 

Walking across the flight deck, I watched a sailor being approached by his obviously pregnant wife. She was running toward the returning sailor with her arms stretched wide, smiling all the while.

He decked the woman with one punch, stepped over her and proceeded to the side of the ship, where he joined 4,500 sailors disembarking the Ranger.

“Wasn’t pregnant when we left,” the sailor said.

We didn’t have any brides or girlfriends meeting us, our group of close friends, only a big yellow Buick driven by friend Joe Miles, a sailor originally from Camden, New Jersey.

Trust me, there weren’t marching bands greeting the returning Vietnam vet 40 years ago. Crowds were there when the ships came in, of course, including blushing and pregnant wives.

The Ranger and Enterprise were the two aircraft carriers stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin in the winter of 1967.

Our Navy squadron introduced the Corsair jet to the Vietnam war. We didn’t lose any pilots in the initial tour, but one was shot down on the squadron’s next tour. He was released as a POW in 1970-71.

I was long discharged by then, but I was glad to find his name among the POWs released, a list that was published in the daily newspapers nationwide.

Somewhat jaded by my stint in the service, I wanted nothing to do with any kind of military ceremony after my discharge, Memorial Day included.

Nothing personal, I would tell men in uniform and other veterans.

I’ll catch up to you guys later, I intoned.

Later is now.

While loyal to veterans clubs here, in the West and Southwest over the last 40 years, it’s only been in recent years I’ve embraced with pride my standing as a veteran.

Stopping short of putting my uniform back on and marching with the Color Guard, I choose instead  to blend in with the crowd at military ceremonies like Memorial Day.

But it is with pride that I salute each passing Color Guard.

Given the opportunity, I will write about the veteran and what he and she mean to this country.

Some, I suspect, are bored with editorials on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, which is sad; we should never become bored with the legacy that all veterans from all wars have left us.

Granted, the editorials and stories often carry the same theme, but that doesn’t mean they should be easily dismissed.

As a country, we cannot and must not dismiss or forget the veteran.

While the Vietnam vet is replacing the WWII and Korean vets in our posts and clubs across the country, in Color Guards and in the crowds standing along parade routes, we sadly admit we might fall short as replacements.

The Greatest Generation we are not.

But we’re still veterans.

Who, for the most part, are not looking for accolades or even the thank yous promoted each year at Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. Simple recognition at the two events will do, thank you.

In the meantime, we have a legion of veterans returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that will need our support.

Salute and congratulate them, they’re the ones fighting today’s wars.

Sadly, we  will always be fighting wars. I’ve resigned myself to that certainty.

The face of the veteran, and we have some of those faces pictured in the Banner this week, should remind us of that fact.

America has many faces, photographed from every angle. Look for the veteran, he’s in the center of the group photo.

You can’t miss him.