Smiley Anders for November 21, 2009

• By SMILEY ANDERS
• Advocate columnist
• Published: Nov 21, 2009 - Page: 1B

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Dear Smiley: My husband and I and our 4-year-old son, Hayden, were traveling home from a visit to Baton Rouge.

When we stopped in Mobile, Ala., at a Burger King, we sat next to an elderly couple. The husband said they had a great-grandson who looked just like Hayden.

As they were leaving, I noticed that he was wearing the red cap of the Marine Corps.

I told Hayden to give the man a salute and thank him for serving our country. Then Hayden asked him if he was a “real solider.”

The gentleman smiled and said yes. He was 90 years old and a World War II veteran.

Noticing that Hayden had saluted with his left hand, the gentleman showed him how to properly raise his right hand to his forehead.

And he showed “the final salute,” raising and lowering his hand very slowly.

His eyes clouded up a bit as he told Hayden that he and his buddies had just done that for a dear friend.

He then said “Semper Fi!” and told Hayden it means “To keep the faith.”

Needless to say, I was in tears by this point — proud of my young son and thrilled to have met this “real soldier.”

LeAnn Owens Mock
Atlanta

Trinidad Tiger
Dear Smiley: Our friend Annie Fugler’s note on the LSU fans located on “foreign” soil (Maine) reminds me that while I worked in Trinidad, an island nation about 2,500 miles south-southeast of Tiger Stadium (I worked there a year and a half, ending in September), I frequently picked up company arrivals. They were to spot me as the guy wearing LSU gear.

I would unfailingly meet strangers at the airport who would high-five, comment, buy a beer, and/or converse with me about LSU, the Tigers’ chances this year, etc.