Gene Moore

He was a baseball prodigy. At the age of fifteen, Gene Moore was a boy, playing like a man, in a game where men, play like boys.

Headed for baseball stardom with the Brooklyn Dodgers, his destiny was interrupted by
Pearl Harbor.
His life... and
maybe our
national
pastime...
would be
forever altered.

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Have you hugged a Veteran today?

Today is Memorial Day. We have been celebrating this holiday as a nation since 1873. This Monday, May 29, 2006, has a very special and renewed meaning for me.

When I was growing up, I was involved in competitive drum & bugle corps (Go Cavaliers!), so my Memorial Days past were always spent in parades and field competition. For me, Memorial Day was about patriotism, music, pageantry, and the opening of drum & bugle corps season. After my drum corps days passed, Memorial Day became about family, barbeque, and yard work. Arlene and I married on May 31, 1975, so sometimes Memorial Day was shared with a celebration of one of our 31 years together. But after spending almost three years writing, editing, and refining Playing with the Enemy--and reliving my father’s life in baseball and service to our country--his story has helped me reconnect with the true meaning of this day.

Memorial Day is our recognition and celebration of the service and sacrifice that has been made by our veterans since 1776. If you are a veteran, let me personally thank you for your service to our country. Please take time to thank the veterans in your life. They deserve our eternal gratitude.

When I was a kid, my Mom & Dad called it “Decoration Day,” and it always had special meaning in our home. It always began with a trip to the same cemetery where Mom and Dad are today. Every year, they raised the casket flags of all the veterans who had passed since the last Memorial Day. On Memorial Day in 1983, I had the sad privilege of raising my father’s flag. Today, his flag resides in an oak box, shaped like a folded flag. It hangs on our wall.

Today, Arlene, and our youngest son Travis drove to the cemetery to place the traditional flowers and American flag on my parents’ grave. This time, I rolled up a galley copy of Playing with the Enemy and carefully inserted it in the cavity between their headstones that holds the flower vase when not in use. I don’t know why I did that, but it is something I had planned to do from the writing of the first word in September 2003.

Please take the time, not just today, but anytime you are in the presence of someone who has served in the armed forces of the United Sates of America, to thank them for their service. Two hundred and thirty years after our founding we still exist as a proud and free bastion of hope to the world only because of the men and women who have and continue to protect our country.

Below is the dedication that kicks off Playing with the Enemy:

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Gene, Ward, David and Brian Moore, Kenneth Jenkins, Harold Bright, Bill Wigant, Bob Jackson, Luther Watson, Chuck Ellens, George Langlois, Roger and Jim Roussell, Curtis Carter, Skip Swoverland, Paul Litteau, Bill Stark, Captain James Haigh, Lieutenant Colonel Stu Leach, Technical Seargant Kyle Day, Harold Shirk, Mark Ray, Tom Billadeau, Scott Swaim, Tony Hulls, Dan Hays, Thomas M. Rounds, Janice Mickelson, Ashley Rounds, William T. Franey, Dominic Tringali, Tony Manfredi, Larry Jansick, John Brasel and all the men and women who willingly serve our country in the armed forces of the United States of America. Like Gene and Ward, they put their lives on hold to do their duty. Some come back and pick up their lives where they left off; some lives are forever changed by the experience; and others do not come back at all. Thank you to all who have, are and will serve. Your willingness to defend our country is inspirational.