by Sierra Rhoda
Houlton Jr. High
On Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, my life and heart were changed forever. I journeyed to Bangor, Maine, to attend the Cole Land Transportation Museum’s Annual Veterans’s Day Celebration. That day, I met Galen Cole for the first time and listened to the heart-wrenching stories from other heroes of the wars. This was my first real glimpse of how “Freedom isn’t Free.”
When Galen Cole was a senior in high school, he and his best friend enlisted and fought in WWII. Mr. Cole was in a half-track and was asked to change seats with another soldier. He politely gave up his seat, not knowing that it would save his life. Moments later the half-track was bombed and almost all of the men were killed. When he was laying in the ditch, he promised God that if he survived the war he would spend his life helping others.
To this day Galen Cole changes lives one after another by selflessly giving to others, telling his story and having his veteran friends tell their stories, too.
Mr. Cole brings veterans and community members together to share the amazing life changing stories to students all over the world. He doesn’t want any stories of the heroic veterans to go untold. As I sat at the celebration and listened to the brave and courageous stories of many veterans, I finally realized all that I had been taking for granted. We don’t have any idea what they went through, the battles they fought, the strength and bravery it took to give us our freedom.
Millions of people underestimate what veterans have done in the wars. These amazing men and women had to give up their dreams and their families, not knowing what might happen to them in the war. They had daughters and sons in their hearts the whole time while fighting for us. We will never really know exactly what they sacrificed for our freedom.
Attending the Veteran’s Day Celebration and actually sitting down and meeting Galen Cole and the other veterans face to face was truly amazing. It was a day to remember. Their sacrifices became real to me that day. War became real to me that day. I truly realized that “Freedom isn’t Free”.
