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Thank you for your service |
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November 11, 2017 |
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Story and photos by Mike Weland
At 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month, 99
years after the guns of World War I fell silent,
a crowd gathered in Veterans Memorial Park
outside the library in Bonners Ferry and
remembered the honor and the sacrifice of those
among us who, at one time, took an oath "that I
will support and defend the Constitution of the
United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic."
There was poetry, there were prayers. Tears.
Grizzled old veterans and young children. There
were hands clasped, eyes locked, the words
"thank you for your service" exchanged. Yet the
look in most veterans' eyes as they heard the
words seemed to say, "thank you for letting me
serve."
Margaret Piatt was there, carrying two beautiful
quilts, each sewn with loving care to help keep
a veteran warm. She called the name on the first
quilt, and wasn't surprised not to hear an
answer. The day was a little too cold for
Hartley King to be out in these days.
At 102 years old, he's a bit more frail, she
said, than he once was. Margaret promised to
deliver it to him in person, and to gently tuck
it around his shoulders.
When she read the name on the second, though,
she did get an answer ... a choked gasp from
veteran Wanda Tucker who, along with her
husband, John, have spent so many years giving
it seems they've forgotten how it feels to get.
She accepted humbly, her eyes glistening with
tears.
Here then, without further words, is a glimpse
of some of the images captured today in Bonners
Ferry, in the eleventh hour of the eleventh day
of the eleventh month, the moment the guns of
the Great War fell silent, 99 years ago.
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