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Tomorrow is Veterans Day.  Armistice Day  marked the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Le Francport, near Compiègne, France, at 5:45 am for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven in the morning—the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918. Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.  Source: Wikipedia

Lee Waldon served in the U.S. Army from 1963 until 1965. The last year he was stationed in Vietnam. After discharge from the Army, instead of going back to his hometown of East Peoria Illinois, he moved to Minneapolis and got a job at an office supply and furniture company. Lee worked in the office furniture and supply industry for 41 years.  Lee and his wife Marian also started an antiques business near Buffalo.   Waldonwoods.net  

One of their daughter Laura’s high school friends Brent was a Chief Warrant Officer in the Army. He flew injured and deceased soldiers out of Afghanistan via helicopter. He asked Lee to accompany him on a visit to Eagle’s Healing Nest in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.  Their mission is to help veterans who have mental and emotional issues like PTSD and depression. Brent wanted Lee to meet a veteran that had served under him in Afghanistan, in the hopes of helping him. While Lee had no experience in doing that, he agreed to go along, and the veteran received Lee as a friend.

One day Lee asked a friend that he had met at Lifetime Fitness what he did for Veterans Day. He said he did nothing. Lee told him about Eagle’s Healing Nest. A week later they went to Sauk Centre and on that visit, they noticed a vacant gymnasium. Between the two of them they were able to get a health club in British Columbia to donate gym equipment valued at $80,000 to Eagle’s Healing Nest. Lee and his “Fitness Friend” paid for the semi to transport it. They also helped to set it up. That was over four years ago, and Lee has returned to Eagle’s Healing Nest many times since then.

Tomorrow, Lee and Marian will be returning to Eagle’s Healing Nest to serve dinner for the veterans.  Marian has baked 300 cookies.   Maybe you could find a way to help our Veterans.  Eagleshealingnest.org   If you meet a veteran simply say, “Thank you for serving.” 

“The fixed determination to acquire the warrior soul, and to have acquired it to either conquer or perish with honor, is the secret of victory.”  George S. Patton