He Is My Veteran

General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) has been credited with the famous phrase, “War is hell.” No matter how war has been depicted in books, songs, and movies, there is nothing glamorous about war. War is the physical result of a spiritual condition.

My father, Lt. William James Poole, Ret. USN, served his country for 22 years. He graduated Valedictorian from the Traveler’s Rest High School in Traveler’s Rest, South Carolina. He then entered the navy as a Seaman fresh out of high school.

While stationed in Rhode Island, my father somehow met Jane Louise Hearn, who was living in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. They fell in love and married before he was transferred to Florida where my sister was born.

My father attended Perdue University and graduated after 4 years just 9 ours shy of completing his master’s in Electrical Engineering. The Navy would not allow him to take any further classes, so he had to delay his master’s until many years later. During that time my brother was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Then my father chose to enter Officer’s Candidacy School in Newport, Rhode Island. During that time my mom was staying at her mother’s home in Pittsfield, where I was born. Three months later we moved to Long Beach, California, where we experienced the Watts riots in August of 1965. We then moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where we remained until my father retired from the Navy.

During my father’s 22 years in the Navy, my father fought in both Korea and Vietnam and took part in the Bay of Pigs and some non-public campaigns. He saw and experienced many horrific things. As a Fire Control Specialist, his job was not confined to the ship only. Many of his experiences continue to cause problems nearly 40 years after Vietnam.

My father served his country with pride, with valor, with distinction, with honor, and with unwavering loyalty. He is my veteran. He fought not only for his own life and those of his shipmates, but he fought for the lives of those he left behind.

While these wars were overseas, there were many battles right here at home. Battles between citizens who hated the wars. Battles between government officials who thought they knew better how to win than the trained men and women in the military. Battles within families that struggled with every day life with little money and long months without a father at home. Battles between fathers and their own sons who barely even knew their father when he did return.

Wars destroy people, properties, cities, countries, families, relationships, friendships, financial stability, and more. War is hell. Why anyone would want to glamorize it in any other fashion is beyond me. I am one of those who suffered because of war. I often tell people that I served in the Navy for the first 8 years of my life, because my family lived in the uncertainty of whether or not we would ever see my father again every time he left home.

The men and women who serve in our military deserve to know that when they willingly place their lives on the line for this country that this country is willing to take care of the grieving widows and orphaned children.  They deserve to know that this country will help them when they return from war, no matter how politically unpopular it was. They deserve to know that they can trust their current and future Commanders in Chiefs to fight for their needs during and after the wars.