On behalf of the entire Altman & Associates team, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the Veterans and currently enlisted Servicemen and women of the United States Armed Forces. We are grateful for your service and sacrifice – both past and present.
My wife comes from a long line of military service to our country, from all different branches, marines, navy and army, so our home has much military pride. Moreover, my father, who died in 1997, served in the Korean War. Fortunately, my father-in-law, who served as a war correspondent in the Korean War, is still living.
The story that amazes my wife is that of her grandfather, a Colonel in World War II. Her mother and grandmother had a very large map of Europe and Africa on the dining room wall and they would track with push pins where her grandfather was then serving, after receiving his letters. Her grandfather, Colonel Smith,was gone for 5 straight years during his service, never returning for a visit. She can’t imagine what that must have been like for her mother and grandmother, who didn’t see their father and husband for these 5 long years. Her grandfather returned at the end of the war after leading the American soldiers into the Buchenwald concentration camp. We are so thankful that our family members in the armed services all came home.
I have also had the honor of having many military clients and families as clients over the years. Estate planning is complicated as it is, but military service members and their families have the added complexity of factoring Veterans Benefits into the mix, which sometimes makes it even more of a challenge.
On this Memorial Day in 2012, we honor all those who were wounded or died serving our country.