A Veteran's Thoughts on Memorial Day

Stanley Kaplin, 84, of Monroe participated in the Memorial Day Parade and veterans ceremony Sunday. He had served in the armed forces himself, at the end of World War II and just before the start of the Korean War.

Kaplin enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1946 and was stationed with the occupation forces in Korea as part of the 31st Infantry Regiment.

When he came back home in 1948, Kaplin recalls pulling down the map in his former high school geography teacher's classroom and pointing to Korea.

"I said, 'Here's where I was. Here's where the next war's gonna be,'" he said.

North Korea invaded South Korea just two years later.

Kaplin remembers the tough conditions — and the cold weather — soldiers had to endure. 

Every Memorial Day, Kaplin said, "I think about all the boys who were lost and the sacrifices they made to keep this country free."