Big Red Car here on a bit of a cloudy day.  Still digesting that turnkey, are you?  Well, let’s make some turkey soup today and finish it off.

So The Boss is depositing Investment Banker No 1 Son at the Killeen-Fort Hood International Airport for the trip home to Charlotte and drives by the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery.

Truth of the matter, The Boss did not even know it existed.  Very nice peaceful piece of dirt where the savannahs meet the Hill Country.  Pretty country as the ranchers say.

The cemetery was created by the State of Texas, Veterans Land Board, on 174 acres which was donated by the Federal government to the State of Texas for that specific purpose.  It was formerly part of Fort Hood.  [Click on the pictures to see them at a larger scale.]

Ground was broken on 11 November 2003 (Veterans’s Day) and dedicated on 5 October 2005.  The first veteran was buried there on 4 January 2006.

The cemetery will hold approximately 7,000 plots with the potential to expand to 50,000.

There is a solemn monument to soldiers killed in combat which displays the iconic rifle, bayonet, boots and helmet.  The last tribute to a fallen warrior.  It is just inside the entrance.

Then there are the white limestone headstones.  They are decked out in wreaths for the season.  Look at the Hill Country in the distance.

George Patton got it just about right in this inscription.

If you get up that way, stop by and take a look.  It is a fitting tribute to Texas, Texans, soldiers and our Nation.  “Thank God that such men lived.”

This is what it looks like to pay the mortgage on American freedom and why we should so jealously safeguard and celebrate our unique American freedoms.

God speed and rest in peace, good and faithful soldiers.  A grateful Nation celebrates your lives.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway?  I’m just a Big Red Car.