Local reader Bob Critser, who served as a U.S. Air Force crew chief on a Sabre jet in Korea and Japan in 1954-58, found the following while visiting Medford, Oregon.

He brought it to us to share with readers, saying it could very well apply to Kitsap.

Strangers in town

There are some strange people in town. They often gather in cafes, parks and coffee houses. Sometimes they are uncomfortably loud. Sometimes they are strangely quiet.

We don’t know much about them. They seem to come from a different time. They remember friends long dead by marching in parades and standing graveside in small cemeteries wearing uniforms that don’t always fit. They go to these graves even when it’s raining or if it’s cold and even when no one else is there.

Some of these men fire old guns in honor of fighting men who are sometimes not even buried there. They do this to the commands of a comrade; even these commands seem out of place to everyone but these strange people.

We see them sometimes carrying the Flag at various sports events. They seem to be serious about carrying the colors. Almost like someone died.

They wear strange caps. They gather at coffee shops. I wonder if they go there to remember. Or do they go there to forget?

You see these people snap to attention when the Flag comes by in a parade. If you look closely, you may even see a tear in that person’s eye.

At a veterans memorial monument, they’ll go and touch the stones … tears again. Strange people.

If these unusual people are remembering battles and friends or living with the memory of horrors and death that Hollywood can’t even come close to imitating, why do they do everything they can for our community?

Why do they put on Boys and Girls State? Why do they give money to scholarships and donate time and sometimes scarce dollars to the veterans homes and V.A. hospitals?

Why do they sponsor Scouting programs? Why do they sponsor baseball teams? Why do they give blood, build parks, teach child safety, and support drug education? Why do they want us to learn so eloquently at an oratorical competition on the United States Constitution?

It’s because they have fought for freedom. They know freedom is not free. They live every day with the memories of battles or sacrifice. They know that if we don’t always watch out for our freedoms, someone will take them, even from inside our country.

While some of you were thinking of proms, honor societies, band and what college to go to, these strange people had to put all that on hold to fight and die and protect our Constitution so we could go to a program and graduate and pledge allegiance and speak on the Constitution so eloquently.

These strange people know protecting the Constitution doesn’t always have to be done on a bloody battlefield.

So by instilling in us the values of freedom and liberty and encouraging us to be superior communicators when it comes to our Constitution, you and I will protect it — first with our words and, if necessary, with our lives.

By now, you should have some insight as to who these strange people are. They are the people that belong to the American Legion, VFW and every other veterans organization in our community.

—Written by an unknown military veteran you once passed on the street