Dear Son:
The uniform in this box I wore for the seven years I was in the service. Although it wasn’t worn in any battles or marched in on foreign shores I wore it as a proud and grateful member of our armed forces. I was glad to be able to serve my God, my country and most of all defend this great country of ours so families such as ours could continue to exist. I wore this uniform because of my love for you, your mother, but most of all for the love of my country that would exist as a free nation for all its citizens. And son, I pray and hope someday that you too choose to wear a uniform of the armed forces, you will also wear it proud and hold your head up high.
Son, this uniform is more than just some material with fancy buttons and ribbons – it’s a symbol of freedom and liberty that our great country is made of. Uniforms have been worn by many others before me and shall be for time to come. They have been shot at in battles, worn in parades, displayed in museums, been to the moon and put away in attics as a memory – a memory of serving our country and its people. We are a proud nation and a free one and it takes many people to make up such a great nation and just as many to defend it.
Son, that you can find it in your heart to also wear a uniform of our country you will have made your mom and dad both proud. And son, I hope you’ll wear it proudly and be glad to state to all that you’re a member of our armed forces – a citizen of this great land, defending its freedoms and liberties at any cost. And someday your own son may look at your old uniform and wonder whether his father wore his uniform proudly. And you can tell him yes, because you were a man willing to take the responsibilities and honors of wearing that uniform. And that he should to, for if it wasn’t for the uniformed members of our armed forces our country wouldn’t be our country.
And son, I pray if I don’t live to see the day you’re in uniform that you’ll know it would make me glad to say you were a man and wore a uniform that stands for freedom and the American way of life. Son, may God be with you and the rest of our fellow citizens that chose to serve and wear a military uniform of our great country.
Love- Your Father
© Copyright, September 1978, David R. Walrath
