Good morning,
Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.
This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.
Sgt. Jesse Cottle: A Healing Love Story
In July 2009, Marine Staff Sergeant Jesse Cottle was in his sixth year of service in the Corps when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan. He knew the blast was bad. In fact, he thought it was the end and he had two regrets: He’d never get to finish Dreamcatcher by Stephen King, and he’d never know what it was like to be a husband and father. Thanks to the work of doctors, he survived after enduring several operations at several different hospitals. However, both of his legs had to be amputated.
One weekend, while he was with his parents in Phoenix, the Forresters, friends of his family, invited the Cottles to see their daughter, Kelly—a record-setting collegiate swimmer—compete in a meet. Jesse went, and it was one of the first times he was on his new prosthetic legs. He was instantly stunned by Kelly and her beauty, and by her warm personality when the two families had dinner together after the meet. Jesse and Kelly became friends because they were both in other relationships, but gradually they fell in love. As Kelly said in American Heroes on the Homefront: The Hearts of Heroes, “I don’t just love Jesse in spite of his injuries, I love him because of them.” The couple married in 2012.
Jesse received a Bronze Star with a Combat V for valor, and he and Kelly live in San Diego. P.S. And he finally finished Dreamcatcher!
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“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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