Veteran's Day at Jefferson Barracks

If you are looking for photographic opportunities, you look to places people gather.  On holidays such as Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, a great place to find people can be a cemetery, especially if you live within 20 minutes of a National Cemetery like Jefferson Barracks.  I drove down to capture some of the activities or scenery that caught my eye.  Here comes your brief history...

A little boy plays with the United States flag as his mother and grandmother paint the lettering of a tombstone.

Selected for it's strategic position south of St. Louis, Missouri, Jefferson Barracks opened in 1826, and became the United States Army's first permanent base west of the Mississippi River.  During the 1940s, it was also the largest military establishment in the country.  During the Civil War, Jefferson Barracks became a training post for Union soldiers.  Ironically, the cemetery also holds over 1,000 Confederate soldiers.  The cemetery has honorably served as a burial place for soldiers from all US wars.  

Grave markers roll with the hills as the flag in the background flies at half-staff honoring Veteran's Day.

The importance of the post waned rather quickly following World War II, and the post was deactivated in 1946.  However, the grounds continue to expand as a national cemetery as demand grows.  Jefferson Barracks was named to the National Register of Historical Places in 1998.

One marker is flanked by both the US flag and a flag commemorating Veteran's Day.

Honor and Gratitude

A very simple image for a very simple message:  Thank You.

I took this image this summer while in downtown St. Louis admiring a military display in front of Soldier's Memorial.  On days like this, I think of two relatives that actively served in Vietnam and WWII.

My uncle flew helicopters just above the jungle trees.  His job was to drop flares so the jets could more easily find their targets.  I never thought much of this as a young boy.  I asked one day only to find his helicopter was unescorted and unarmed!

I also think back to my grandfather in WWII.  Stationed in Italy as a P-51D pilot, he logged hours in the cockpit of almost every fighter or bomber the US used in the European theater.  I hope I never lose his stories.  At one extreme he would tell me about finding God as he flew home, alone, over German occupied territory after watching his wingman get shot down.  He described that as "white-knuckle flying at it's finest and the longest 3 hours of my life."  The other extreme would be a story about lying awake with the boys using their handguns to shoot rats off the roof of the tents.  One hand held a flashlight, the other held the pistol.  The story wrapped with "There are always consequences to your actions.  If you shot at rats, the next morning you patched the roof in the cold."

But, most of all, I remember a story a friend handed me one day at work.  The story was of a man that never saw a day of action in WWII because he served as a POW the entire time.  Oh, how I wish you could read that story of service and sacrifice.  This man was captured off the coast of a tiny island in the Pacific and watched the planes fly overhead en route to bomb Pearl Harbor (he later found out).  He spent most of the next four years in the hull of a ship eating spoiled rice, being spat and urinated upon, and packed in with another 200 men like sardines.  However, there was a lot of time during the four years he was able to serve as a slave to the Japanese, wishing he was back in the hull of that boat.  While serving as a slave, he also saw the B-29s fly overhead en route to Hiroshima.  He said he always felt ashamed by his time of duty because he never saw action and never felt like a hero.  Well, let me tell you, he is definitely a hero....yet no one knows him....because of his humility.

All three of these men are heroes.  And, many, many more like them.  If you see one today, please make the effort to thank them.  They all have stories.  All you have to do is ask.