A Family at War Through the Years

My family has a tradition of militarism, which I oppose. From what I have documented, we can go back to my 4X great grandfather's service as a foot-soldier in the Revolution.

We jump to the 1860s and my great grandfather Oliver McCourry (and his three brothers) who enlisted in the Confederate army as a grunt. He was captured and chose to fight for the Union out west over going to prison.

I don't think my grandfather George Washington Smith fought in WWI because he was a family man with a successful residential construction business. I was told as a kid that his brothers fought in France.

My dad, however, enlisted as a 1st Lt. (because he graduated from Virginia Tech, a military school then) in WWII and became head of a munitions depot in Bremerton, WA. He wanted to be a career officer, but circumstances would not permit that.

I was not drafted during Vietnam, my generation's war, because of a football knee. I thought then and hope now that I would have resisted the draft.

My son had no war (unless you count Bosnia, which professional soldiers fought) and now my grandgirl, Mac, is facing a fight for our country's very survival with the Trump Administration. Her war is not likely to be as bloody as the others, but it is no less crucial.