[UPDATED 0428 MDT 11/12/08 -- OK, so I'm lying awake in bed at, well, 4:20 am and I suddenly realize that I've forgotten the newest veteran in our family: my nephew, Darren Green. The list below is now updated; apologies to Darren.]

Last Veterans Day, Bruce Henderson and I posted a list of our relatives who have served in the Armed Forces (either American or British). Henderson himself served in the USMC (see yesterday’s post); here are the rest in rough reverse chronological order:

Bruce Webster:

• Darren Green, USMC (active) — currently in training for deployment to Afghanistan [nephew]
• Jon A. Webster, USMC (active) — serving in al Rutbah, Iraq [son]
• Heather Harris, US Army National Guard (former) — [daughter]
• Greg Barsic, USMC (former), USCG (active) — currently serving in the US Coast Guard in San Diego [son-in-law]
• Frank Wallace, USMC (former) — [married to my niece]
• Brad Poeltler, USN (ret.) — former Naval aviator in the F-14 RAG [brother-in-law]
• Robert Wendt, USN (ret.) –  former Navy pilot [former brother-in-law]
• Bill Lowell, US Army (former) — [former brother-in-law]
• John A. Webster, USN (ret.) — served in both WW II and Vietnam [my father]
• James Francis Webster, USN — served in WW II [my paternal grandfather]
• John Silas Fickes, CSM, USN — served in WW I, Mexican War (1920), and WW II [my maternal grandfather]
• John William Fickes, 1st Sgt., Co. A, PA Militia, 8th Reg. Infantry — served in Spanish-American War [my great-grandfather]
• James Edward Taylor, Pvt. Co. D, II PA Volunteer Infantry — Civil War [my great-great-grandfather]

Bruce Henderson:

• Andy Henderson, USN (active) — [nephew] Currently at sea with the forward deployed USS George Washington out of Yokosuka, Japan.
• Bruce Henderson, USMC (former) — Yes, I was a Jar Head
• Peter Anderson, USMC — My dear departed uncle Peter served with Marine Intel during Vietnam
• Jim Zimmerman, Illinois National Guard (former) — My uncle Jim served 2 tours in the National Guard
• Ian Henderson, RAF — [my dear departed father] RAF pilot who served the crown during the Battle of Britain as well the far east as a flight leader. He lied about his age to join the flight corps and was a decorated Ace for combat action.
• Ron Henderson, RAF — [uncle] RAF radio man,
• Robert Zimmerman, USN — My dear departed step-grandfather served in the US Navy during WW2
• Howard Martin, USN — My biological grandfather was a pilot who died in WWII when my mother was just a child

God bless them all, and God bless America. ..bruce w..