November 11, Eternity
Remembrance
The soldier sleeps – in distant foreign lands,
Beneath the ice or shifting desert sands.
An airman in the sun-split clouds.
The sailor in his watery shroud.
Their sacrifice, in time is lost,
With scant appreciation of the cost
Lest we forget.
I go down to the cemetery to pay my respects to someone close fairly often and I usually see one or two older pilots throwing a nickel to fighter pilot Robin Olds. Not many people know about this tradition but I think it is pretty cool so I thought I would share it.
One of the fighter pilot bar songs that came out of the Korean War says “Throw a nickel on the grass, save a fighter pilots ass.” Whenever a fighter pilot dies, his fellow pilots pay their respects by throwing a nickel….actually, to pay his way into Heaven. And leaving Jack Daniels is traditional.