Awesome Guests (Thank a Veteran!)

Working at Disney, with thousands and thousands of people coming through the gates each day, you can encounter a lot of awesome families and people. Usually the best of these are the veterans. I consider these gentlemen walking pieces of history.

Now my dad served in Vietnam. Even though I was just a baby at the time, I was lucky because my dad came HOME, when a lot of other young men didn't. If you have worked with me on the trains you may have noticed that I always shake the hands of  every veteran, especially anyone wearing a Vietnam Vet hat. I thank them for their service because who knows what part they played in making sure my dad returned safely to the states.

Yes, those hats always pique my interest. Being somewhat of a history buff I always enjoy reading the names of the ships and divisions (even when I have never heard of them). So recently, when a gentleman comes up to me in the train station to ask me a question, and he is wearing a hat that says USS ENTERPRISE, he gets my full attention.

So I start a conversation with him and tell him I had recently watched Midway, which had the Enterprise, Yorktown and Hornet aircraft carriers in it. He says that was before his time (obviously) and that he was on the "Big E" during Vietnam. Now I'm really interested and tell him about my dad being in the navy at the same time, and one of the ships he was on was the USS Hanson. Right away he says "that sounds like a destroyer" (it was), and how he always felt bad for those guys because they always had to ride in the wake of the big ships, getting tossed about all over the place.

He then starts talking about how important those ships were and how they always did the rugged work of protecting the bigger carriers. He then shakes MY hand and tells me to thank my dad for his service and how much he appreciated the unheralded work those destroyers did. I was speechless.

Needless to say, that made my day. I got to talk to a great American who downplayed his own accomplishments and wanted to thank others for theirs. America needs more men like that. Unfortunately I feel they are a dying breed.

A destroyer following the USS Enterprise