Please indulge me while I honor my dad, a Marine and a member of the 1st Marines regiment that engaged in hand-to-hand combat against the Japanese on Okinawa. It looked something like this.
He took a Japanese slug to the gut and was destined to bleed to death if not for the efforts of several of his buddies who dragged him to safety. I'm here to tell this story because of their heroism.
My dad was a badass, a great dad and yet kind of screwed up, but he was my dad. I'm proud as hell for his courage and his service. Happy Vet's Day, Dad.