Speaking of recognizing those who served our country, I should mention my wife's grandfather. He didn't serve in the armed forces, but was a civilian worker on the Manhattan Project in Washington State.
He left Utah with his wife and baby daughter (my mother-in-law) to go to work there and was sworn to secrecy. He never spoke about what he did when he returned to his home state. As a result he was called all sorts of names, from coward to draft-dodger. For a long time,he was shunned in his community and church. But he never said a word.
Eventually he was recognized by the armed forces and taken to Washington DC for a tour of the Pentagon and to meed some high-ranking military officers. They asked him what he had done to receive such respect and honor, and he said, "I'm sorry sir, it's still classified." They all respected his commitment to his oath of secrecy.
It was only last year when many of the things became somewhat common knowledge that he told his story. I had the honor of having him as a guest in my home as he told of the work he did to develop and maintain the centrifuges and other Uranium refining equipment; the long hours and hard work he did and the sacrifice that he and his family made in contributing to bringing an end to WWII.
He told his story in a very humble manner, with no self-aggandization...just the facts, as far as I could tell. When he finished his story, I had tears in my eyes. I got up, walked across the room and shook his hand. All I could say was, "thank you."
