Lest we forget?

We already did!

We so often hear the phrase "Lest we forget" in reference to some historic event. We usually respond by vowing to remember. But we never do.

We forget everything that didn't have a personal impact. Even that is not a guarantee that we will remember.

A few years ago, on Veteran's Day, I wore my World War II veteran's pin, and asked people if they knew what it stood for. No one did. Even some guys who were old enough to be WW II vets themselves.

I emailed a local TV station's news department and asked if anyone knew what WW II vets meant when they referenced the "Ruptured Duck"? They did not reply. Probably thought it was some sort of obscene email.



Here's a pix of the pin, scanned from the back of a booklet issued to discharged servicemen and women after WW II.


I no longer have my original pin. It was the old-fashioned kind of lapel pin that actually fit into a button hole. I wore it one year on Veteran's Day and lost it. My son purchased a replacement for me - the kind that punches a small hole in the fabric and has a clip that snaps on the back.



I can't really fault people for not remembering the pin we called the ruptured duck. At the time of my own discharge from the U.S. Army, many of the vets tossed their vet's pin, and other metals and papers, in a trash can.

This past Memorial Day, I decided to try another experiment. Pretty silly, actually, no one could get this one.

I still have my father's Army dog tags from World War I. I consider that a bit remarkable inasmuch as he was discharged 91 years ago! So I wore them, hanging outside my shirt as I participated in the New Mexico Wine Grower's Association's Wine Festival at the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds. Here they are, the round ones, alongside my own rectangular dog tags from WW II.

Those two aluminum disks hanging on a chain aroused no one's curiosity. Finally I pointed them out to some friends, and they seemed duly impressed at the antiquity of the things.

At one point a guy who appeared to be in his late 50's, jokingly asked my wife if she gave a military discount on her artwork. I asked if he was active military and he replied affirmatively, explaining that he had been in the service for 38 years. Because of his unique specialty, he had been permitted to remain on active duty beyond the usual 30-year retirement.

So, I asked if he recognized my "necklace". He correctly guessed that they looked like dog tags, but could not identify them.

We both found it rather interesting that there are 14,606,500 numbers between my father's Army serial number, and my own. When I enlisted, a buddy enlisting with me was assigned a serial number one number higher than mine. Otherwise, I do not know how the Army assigns serial numbers. But it seems about right that there would have been over 14 million soldiers in the three decades that included World War II. I found it even more interesting that both my father's and my own serial number ended with the number 31.

I've tried to think of any way in which the number 31 was significant in either of our lives. No luck.