Lt. (jg) Jean L. Porter, my mother
In honor of Veterans Day, November 11, 2009, a break from my usual subjects:My grandfather was an Army Colonel who landed at Normandy and led troops across Europe during World War II. My Aunt Mary Lou was a very rare and pioneering female Army officer. My Uncle is a West Point graduated retired Lieutenant Colonel.
My cousins lost their father when we were all just kids. A military pilot, his plane went down with the rest of his squadron during a training mission.
Both Navy, my parents met playing bridge in an Officer's Lounge on base. My mom did coding and decoding, and my dad was a sweep-you-off-your-feet Navy pilot and flight instructor. A definite Top Gun Maverick of his time.
My mother had to get a special permission form signed by her chain of command to be out of uniform and in a wedding dress on their big day. The pictures show her beauty matched by my dad's dashing presence in his Navy dress whites. Her father missed her wedding and the chance to walk her down the aisle. Grandpa was somewhere in France he couldn't name, leading troops on their march toward Austria.
When asked why she went in the Navy instead of following the family tradition of service in the Army, my mother always said it was because she looked better in blue than green.
Only after she passed away, at age 82, did we discover papers indicating that she was too young to be accepted into the Army, but not the Navy. World War II was raging and she wanted to do her part, so she enlisted in the branch that would take her.
I'm terribly proud of my brother for carrying on the family tradition of military service, as a Green Beret HALO (high-altitude, low-opening) paratrooper.My mother had to get a special permission form signed by her chain of command to be out of uniform and in a wedding dress on their big day. The pictures show her beauty matched by my dad's dashing presence in his Navy dress whites. Her father missed her wedding and the chance to walk her down the aisle. Grandpa was somewhere in France he couldn't name, leading troops on their march toward Austria.
When asked why she went in the Navy instead of following the family tradition of service in the Army, my mother always said it was because she looked better in blue than green.
Only after she passed away, at age 82, did we discover papers indicating that she was too young to be accepted into the Army, but not the Navy. World War II was raging and she wanted to do her part, so she enlisted in the branch that would take her.
I did not serve in the military. But I want to take the opportunity of Veteran's Day to share just a bit of our family's story. So many families have given more and sacrificed more than ours. We owe every single one of them a debt of gratitude.
Thank you, Veterans and military families everywhere - for your immeasurable service and sacrifice.
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