“We are definitely a military family, and we wanted to do it to honor those that didn’t make it home, that sacrifice. Ernie, you know, his family has a history. Mine too, my father served. So that’s why we wanted to put this together.”
That is the sentiment shared by Lillian and Ernest England this past Memorial Day weekend. On the Saturday before Memorial Day, dozens of members of her family gathered to watch wonderful fireworks in the Oakdale Subdivision. Not just her family either, as others came outside to watch as well.
Ernest England served in Vietnam, having been wounded in battle during his time there. Awarded a Purple Heart for his service, Ernest had been shot while out in the field. He says the bullet entered one side of his abdomen, then came out near the back on the other side. Holding his own guts in while being flown away, he joked that his doctor claimed he was lucky.
“You know, my doctor after told me I was lucky,” said Ernest. “He told me if I didn’t hold all of that there, I would be dead. And I told him, well I don’t really see much that’s lucky about it, I got shot!”
The England family is no stranger to service, not just Ernest. His late brother was also a veteran, and he had even been part of the procession for President Kennedy’s funeral. Lillian’s father was a veteran. Cousins, siblings, nieces, nephews, children, and more. Everywhere this family goes, military service has been a part of it. In addition, Lillian believes that every family that has military history is part of a larger veteran family.
“It’s not just us, but everybody knows someone who served,” she said. “And those people are part of our family too. That military family, because they know. Until you’ve seen the way it affects them, or they tell you stories, you really don’t know.”
As the fireworks sounded off throughout the neighborhood, the England family could only hope that the soldiers who never returned home could look down on them with a smile.
“I hope they saw them (the fireworks),” said Lillian. “Those that didn’t make it back, I hoped they enjoyed the fireworks from heaven.”
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