THOSE DEAR PRECIOUS AMERICAN BOYS

*As we observe National Vietnam War Memorial Day, I thought I would post a blog I wrote about a chance encounter I experienced in Glasgow, Scotland last year

My wife and I experienced the vacation of our lives this past May when we journeyed to Ireland and Scotland.

One of my most memorable experiences of the entire trip lasted all of ninety seconds.

We had checked into a hotel in Glasgow, Scotland the day before, and as I getting on the elevator to return to our room, another man joined me for the ride from the first to the third floor.

No sooner had the middle-aged man stepped into the elevator, and the door closed behind him, he spoke to me in English, (but in what seemed be a Polish accent) and asked,

“Where are you from?”

To which I responded,

“I’m from Florida, USA.”

When the foreigner discovered I was from the United States, he uttered the most poignant phrase I may have ever heard.

“Oh, those dear precious American boys who died for us!”

And while the man didn’t elaborate, it was obvious he was referring to our brave American soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines who surrendered their lives for the sake of the freedom of Europe during WWI and WWII.

I merely nodded, and said something like,

“Yes, they were the best America had to offer, and they have not been forgotten.”

No sooner had the stranger and I exchanged these sentiments, than the elevator came to a stop, the door opened, and I stepped off on the third floor.

Though my encounter with the man consumed no more time than an elevator requires to travel three floors, it was one of the most poignant and memorable of all my memories during the course of seventy years of my life on this good earth.

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending

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