In this era when everyone’s ‘participation’ needs to be acknowledged, let us never forget those whose efforts granted us the rights and freedoms we enjoy.
Here is a picture of true Participation Medals. Earned for service in WWII by my father, Cecil T. Brown. His childhood friend, Barclay Newsome, died on October 7, 1944, during a flight over occupied Holland. These two, and the millions of others who served deserve our unqualified admiration and recognition. They enlisted with no anticipation of a medal, or even of a return. On November 11th, pause long enough to say ‘thanks’, not because you must, but because you can!
