This observance is either a couple of days early or a few days late, depending upon your point of view. My dad was a career naval officer. He graduated from Annapolis and went on to serve twenty years in the US Navy. He passed this week and as part of my seemingly never-ending task of going through his stuff, I came upon a box of his old war ribbons. From left-to-right they are: 

• The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a U.S. military service award given to members of the armed forces who serve during a specific period of national emergency or armed conflict.
• The World War II Victory Medal was awarded for service between 7 December 1941 and 31 December 1946.
• The Korean Service Medal (KSM) is a United States military award presented to service members who served in the Korean War between June 27, 1950, and July 27, 1954.
• The Command at Sea insignia is a badge of the United States’ seagoing services worn by officers on their uniforms to denote that they are the commander, or formerly a commander, of a warship.

The NDSM he could have gotten for either WW II or Korea and or that matter Vietnam too. Participants in all three conflicts were eligible for this medal. The WW II medal he received because he was serving during the period of that war, even though he was only a cadet at the Naval Academy. For the Korean medal he actually “saw” action, sort of speak. He was on board a destroyer that was tasked with bombarding a North Korean rail line at night. He was the ship’s engineering officer and served in a windowless engineering room. His one command at sea was a minesweeper that he sailed across the Pacific from Japan to the US mainland. We always kidded him about the Caine Mutiny.

Tomorrow would have been his 97th birthday. At one point, we were hoping that he would live long enough to see that birthday, but towards the end, seeing his suffering I am glad that he found release when he did. May he be at peace now.