Military stories.
Stories about veterans, service members and the families who wait for them.
They Called Her Just a Nurse
I was already half out of my chair when Greg said it, microphone in his hand, the whole VFW hall watching, and he smiled at... Read more
The Promise I Carried Home
The patch lived in the breast pocket of my field jacket for two years, and for two years I told myself I would drive out... Read more
The Ramp They Tried To Fine Away
The clock on the Wheeler’s Bend town hall tower read six fifty eight when Emiliano wheeled himself up the ramp he built with his own... Read more
The Sea Bag My Granddaughter Almost Gave Away
My granddaughter Piper had it halfway into the trunk of Pearl Hutchins’s church van before I even knew what was happening. Fifty-two years of my... Read more
The Rifle He Wanted To Keep Firing
“It’s a forty year old service rifle, Nettie, not a keepsake. We can’t run funerals on sentiment, and we certainly can’t keep insuring a relic... Read more
The Clerk My Father Was Ashamed Of
My father has spent nineteen years introducing me to people as the daughter who “never really did anything” in the Army, and on the Saturday... Read more
The Medals a Stranger Bought Back
Six dollars. That is what my husband’s Purple Heart, his Bronze Star, his Combat Infantryman Badge, and thirty months of a war he never once... Read more
The Banner That Finally Spelled His Name Right
The clock on the feed store’s brick face at the corner of Main and Route 9 read two forty seven that Thursday afternoon when I... Read more
The Purple Heart They Called Clutter
The regulator clock behind the bar at VFW Post 4471 read six forty when Bettina Sedgwick walked past me carrying a cardboard box, and taped... Read more
The Diesel Shop My Uncle Renamed
At 6:52 that Tuesday morning, twenty-six hours off a hop out of Bahrain and still wearing the same salt-stiff cammies I had slept in across... Read more
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