"If I don't make it out of here alive, take care of my wife and kids."
Bill and John had made a promise.
John was killed a few years later, not by an enemy's bullet but by a drunk fellow marine on base.
To John's widow, Bill offered to honor his promise, to give his life in service, support, and love for her and her young son, John junior.
Seventy years later, Bill remains the patriarch of his adopted family, husband and sentinel to his wife and her children, and keeper of his promise to his brother-in-arms. Bill's mind recently left him, but I choose to believe that behind his unmoving gaze, he still remembers his promises, and chooses to renew them each day.
Happy Veterans Day, grandpa.
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