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Veteran's Day and the Platoon of the Fallen

I'm a little late posting this, but I appreciate that our small school makes sure that our local Veterans feel appreciated and that our young students understand that this is important. It was a small ceremony, with pomp and circumstance, but then every student walked through the line to shake the hands of all of the Veterans present. It was very heartwarming to watch my two boys do this, especially since we come from such a proud military family. 




My father and brother when they were serving in Afghanistan together. 


I think the most unique part of our school's Veteran's Day celebration is our participation in the Platoon of the Fallen in the Dallas Veteran's Day Parade. For the last three years, our seniors and some juniors have carried the portraits of fallen soldiers from Texas. 


Shad and I did not know about this until about a month ago, but we are true believers that God allowed us to be a part of this special event for a reason bigger than we thought possible. When we first saw pictures of previous years' platoons, I immediate told Shad that I recognized one of the portraits. We discovered that one of the paintings honors Sgt. Scott Burgess. Scott was killed while serving in Afghanistan. A few months later, I would teach his oldest daughter in my seventh grade class. I would eventually teach his youngest daughter as well. A few years later, we ended up moving next door to Scott's sister-in-law and we became more like family than we were neighbors. Two years later, my husband was honored to carry Sgt. Scott Burgess' portrait in the parade. 


The best part about this story? We have now learned that the artist who paints this pictures has a very generous heart. If he comes in contact with the family of the fallen soldier, he will present them with the original painting. We are so excited that now we can make the connection between the artist and the Burgess family so that we can all honor the sacrifice Scott made for our country. 

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