Vets impacted other people

We experienced another Memorial Day celebration, and the news media ran the usual stories of heroism and sacrifice of our soldiers The missing elements are the effects these efforts have had on other people and nations throughout the world.

I was born in Germany under the dictatorship of the Nazis and even recall singing unflattering ditties about Churchill and Roosevelt. There was considerable internal opposition but the cost to personal safety was very high and they ultimately were too weak to overthrow the rulers. It took the combined economic and military forces of this country and its allies to finally rid the world of this evil regime.

I, as well as millions of other Germans, had the chains of tyranny removed by the sacrifices of the allied soldiers. I didn’t realize this at the beginning. After emigrating to this country as an 11-year-old in 1951 and then serving as a flight surgeon in the same U.S. Air Force that I was terrified of as a child, I have a much better understanding of the events that occurred around me in my childhood. As a result I am very grateful to be a recipient of the veterans efforts and sacrifice.

Hans Behrens

Chattaroy