because I want to leave them open for Purple Heart types and other vets that may have been walloped by old age.
If I do it is because there are a couple of them that are unoccupied and I am just running in and out. The last time I did this was several months ago.
I think it was last year sometime when I did this and someone asked me what branch of the service I was in. There was something about their tone of voice I really didn't care for. I told them I had served in the French Foreign Legion.
He got snippy and told me that the spot was reserved for American veterans and I asked him where it said it was a requirement that the veteran in question be an American veteran.
His head almost exploded.
"Hey," I said, proudly. "I was recommended for the Legion of Honor for shooting 38 consecutive Rifs off the back of a camel at Fort Zindernauf! They are going to send me the medal after they do some more figuring."
"What do they have to figure out?" he asked in a snide tone.
"To begin with, how they managed to get 38 Rifs on the back of a camel," I replied and he walked off in a snit.
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I got the idea from an old man now passed that served with the $$2nd RCT in Europe, the Nesei outfit that became known as the Christmas Tree or the Purple Heart regiment.
He tols me that he used to go into the VFW years after the war and when a new guy would come in and ask him where he served he would tell them he served as a supply clerk in the Japanese army handing out crash helmets to Kamikaze pilots.
In the 70s and 80s the guys that had served in Vietnam were outraged while the WW2 guys who knew him died laughing.
Gotta keep 'em guessing!
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