Today we honor those who dies in battle. Let us also honor those who survived the battle, came home and led normal lives.

Though my husband served, he did not see combat in WWII. Woody, the husband of a good friend was not so fortunate. he was a paratrooper, and was one of those who would talk about his experiences. He and his friends decided they would not come home and they tried to live each day to the fullest.

At Bastogne, they were surrounded. They each had 1 bullet left, and had decided they would not be taken alive. Had the Germans rushed them, it would have been over. They heard tanks in the distance, and knew it was over. Then they heard a voice saying. "Hold on white boys, we're here to save you." A colored tank battalion had broken through, and a colored man was sticking his upper body out of a tank.

Woody said he jumped on the tank hugged the colored man, and that was the last time he ever felt discrimination. He was from a small southern town, but every time he saw a colored man, he thought of the one in that tank.

Woody died in 1990.