Although a small gathering at the Oswego City Hall yesterday with Mayor Gillen, it was an intimate setting for story telling and shared memories of the family members of Korean War Veteran Tom Galloway and Vietnam War Veteran Peter Griffin.
It was a family affair with Peter and Tom’s family in attendance and filled with melancholy and some shared tears in remembrance of all veterans who return changed from their war experiences. Tom Galloway graciously organized the event in his hometown of Oswego, New York, where he was the city tax assessor for many years and Peter Griffin served as one of Oswego’s finest police officers after their service to our country.
“I served in Vietnam from July 1965 to June 1966 with the 1st Brigade (Separate) 101st Airborne. The two most highly contested actions I participated in were Operation Gibraltar and Operation Hawthorne. I trained in heavy weapons with the MOS of 112, 106 Recoilless Rifle (RR) specialist. I received orders assigning me to Company “I”, 1st Training Regiment. Strict discipline was the order of the day. It was common practice for the whole platoon to receive punishment if even only one of the members screwed up. Many civilian non-veterans probably think that we glorify war, no on the contrary, we hate it. We just can’t shake it and the horror that we relive every day.”
~ Peter Griffin, 101st Airborne
Author of Thoughts, Memories and Tears and When You Hear the Bugle Call and recipient of the Conspicuous Service Star with four accoutrements and the Conspicuous Service Cross for his patriotic service. Visit his website @ http://www.grifslair.com/ to view his many published poems which also appear in the books Comes A Soldier’s Whisper and Vietnam & Beyond.
Comes A Soldier’s Whisper, remembering and honoring our veterans of the past, present and future, one day at a time…
#history #family #veterans #military #veteransmatter #books
