I found myself out and about today.  I needed to drop my mom at a hair appointment. So while I was waiting I drove up to see the Lake.  I peeked at the lake through a bunch of houses, dreamed about one in particular right on the beach that was for sale ( not enough room for the dogs to run) and found myself at Ontario Beach Park.  Well, I hadn't been to this park since I was a lifeguard for the county back when my beer gut was quite a bit smaller and it was actually from beer. 

As I rounded the corner I noticed a couple of TV crews and a crowd of about 50 people.  Intrigued I went to check it out.  The crowd was gathered around a Battle of the Bulge memorial that has been placed at the entrance to this park.  There were about a dozen WWII vets with one providing a speech on his life experiences that were tempered by the war and the gains he has made in his life due to these experiences.  A very moving speech. As he is in his 90's, the delivery was a bit rough but he had the audience laughing and crying with his exploits.

Following this speaker was another that thanked the crowd for a wonderful experience that they had just shared.  Apparently 17 Vets had just returned from an all expense paid trip to visit the WWII memorial in Washington D.C. The majority of the crowd were volunteers from Honor Flight a non-profit group dedicated to providing the WWII veterans trips to Washington to see the memorial.  Honor Flight has provided trips for 650 of our local vets over just the last year. www.honorflight.org

In closing just let me say that although I have not served personally, I have nothing but respect for those that have or do.   I appreciate your service.