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Will Morris is a talented young man and should go far with a newspaper career started at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He is also a former US Marine. A while back the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars visited Post 4848 locally. Will came for an interview and, while waiting, chatted with some of the members about what the VFW is. Commander Bob Blair explained VFW members share
the bondage of service and enjoy the comradeship.
Post 4848 assists Orange Grove, other charitable causes and helps
fellow veterans. We urged
Will to join. He looked
around the lounge. It was a
young man looking at old men having a beer or drink sitting around and
swapping war stories. He
said he might join. He
probably won’t. Like most people, he feels he paid his dues when
he gave the country those years of his life in the Marine Corps. Most people work all their lives and then retire
to draw social security. They
feel they have paid their dues. The corporate executive, the elected official or
the office employee spends a lifetime in a career, working day after day
to earn a retirement pension. All
those years he learned his trade day by day, mistake by mistake. Retirement day comes and he or she walks out the door, taking
with them a lifetime of experience.
Someone else comes along, sits in that chair or behind that wheel
or stand at that lathe. The
learning begins all over again. You
can’t put experience in a magic pill and pass it on to the next
generation. But it can be
shared. Dalton Roberts pad his dues to the Hamilton
County government. He wound
up a career that included teaching school and government work by
spending the last 16 years as county executive.
Doug Gallant paid his dues with TVA, going to night school to get
the education needed to advance his career.
Joe Cheek walked away from his machine shop after a lifetime of
mental and physical work. Ted
Bedoit flew the hump in Burma during World War II. And
Bob Blair served in the navy and then retired as a captain with the
Chattanooga Fire Department. That’s
to name a few. They all paid their dues. They earned the right to sit under a tree to read a book or
go out in a boat with a fishing line.
They haven’t. Dalton is probably busier now than when he held an official position, joining seminars, playing his beloved music—sometimes for pay and sometimes for a benefit. Doug is on the must-call list for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) and may wind up in North Dakota or Texas when a disaster strikes. Joe provides a think tank for the son who took over the machine shop business. Ted is now junior vice commander at Post 4848 handling programs and community activities. And Bob Blair is serving as post commander, for the second time. Tom Stanfield—Peanut as he’s affectionately
known—gave flag lessons to schools when he was able.
He paid his dues with the navy in the Atlantic and the Pacific,
and would still be paying if he were able. God has presented each of us with certain gifts.
Maybe it’s to sing and maker music.
Paint pictures. Write novels. Or
just to do a routine job and try to make the world a little better. We never stop paying our dues. The experience we gained is still valuable.
We owe it to the Creator who gave us whatever talent, health,
inner strength or determination to keep paying for a world that is
insatiable in its appetite for progress. Veterans who served know what it’s like,
whether they were on the home front behind a desk or on the front lines
in the heat of battle. They
have a bond with the troops who follow them. The veteran generations of World War II, Korea,
even Vietnam are being brought down by age and ailments. A new generation is needed to pick up the torch to continue
paying the dues. Whatever your field or expertise, you still need
to pay your dues until someone comes along to take the torch from you.
Heaven help us all if no one will pick up the torches.
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