By Andrea Winkjer Collin, Editor, North Dakota Horizons
Today is a Number 1 day -- the only time in this century that the month day and year will all be composed of ones.
The fact that today is also Veterans Day makes it even more special. Some of us are fortunate to have the day off work, but regardless, all of us should be taking the time today to remember what our country's veterans mean to us and our country.
Today, like every Veterans Days, I am remembering my father-in-law, the late Everett Collin, who was a very deserving member of the Greatest Generation.
Ev served in the Eighth Air Force from 1941-45, and was stationed in England from 1943-45. He flew and helped planned B-24 bombing missions over Nazi Europe. One of the missions he was involved with was the August 1943 raid on the Axis oil fields in Ploesti, Rumania. He lost several friends on that raid, where some 50 B-24s were shot down and more than 500 airmen were killed or missing. When we got him to talk about this raid in the late 1980s, he teared up as he remembered that day.
Ev, who died in 1998 at the age of 82, is shown above center with cohorts at the age of 26 in the Western Zone of Germay in May 1945.
He was awarded the Bronze Star, which his children knew nothing about until they discovered it buried in a box in their Minnesota basement in 1978. Ev said those who really deserved medals like that never made it out of the war.
Regardless of their age or the conflict in which they served, I hope you all have veterans in your families or lives who today can be an inspiration to you as you observe Veterans Day. I try to remember them more than once a year on this day.
Happy Veterans Day to all on this Number 1 Day!
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