Thank You to Veterans and First Responders

As you have probably figured out (since I have talked almost non-stop about Pets in Space 3 and Hero Dogs), this our third year supporting Hero Dogs and the last day of our donation period.

Just to recap, we don’t 10% of the first month’s sales (before profit — and the most lucrative time for a new release) to Hero Dogs. It has been our honor to support Hero Dogs and our veterans and first responders. Hero Dogs raises and trains and places support animals free of cost to veterans and first responders. 

The past two years, I’ve written posts about the veterans in my life and I thought that this year, I’d do a small roundup of those posts. 

My post from 2016 (small personal note, my parents were killed in a driving accident the August before the release of the first Pets in Space.):

When my dad came home from the war in Korea, my mom says words spilled out of him, stories she, a young wife of barely 20, had a hard time processing. She says she listened and then it was over. When I was young, my dad never talked about the horrors of war to us.

A natural storyteller, he made it sound like they spent the time playing jokes on each other and exploring the countryside and just every now and again getting shot at.

My favorite was the one about how he built himself a camper. He’d go into the dumping grounds, the compounds where they hauled broken-down, exploded vehicle parts, figure out what he needed and then just stroll out. He did this until he had a completely rebuilt truck with a small living space in the back.

To keep reading this post, click here:

A post from 2017: 

Why do we care? All of us involved in this project have ties to veterans in a variety of ways. For me, it’s all about my Dad. My dad turned 18 toward the end of WWII and deployed to Alaska after his basic training. He used to talk a lot about his time there, and it was only later that I learned he’d been sent there to prepare to invade Japan. Instead, the war ended, and he came home.

He met my mom, and because he needed work and it was hard to find, he joined the Wyoming National Guard.

And he ended up shipping out to Korea a few months after he and my mom were married. This time he spent two years in such fierce fighting, I think he was surprised he came home.

To read the rest of this post, click here: 

Another  post from 2017:

Today is Veterans’ Day here in the US and I’d like to share a story with you about a ship and a sailor.

The USS Sigsbee (DD-502), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship in the US Navy named for Rear Admiral Charles D. Sigsbee. It began service in July of 1942 and participated in various battles in the Pacific, including the bombardment of Wake Island.

The part of its service that is personal to me, happened 14 April 1945. The Sigsbee was on radar picket off Okinawa when she was struck aft of her number five gun by a kamikaze suicide plane. Twenty-three sailors were killed in the attack.

One of those sailors was my uncle, my mom’s older brother, Callis Gwynn. He was a radioman, but when one of the gunners were killed he stepped in and, on a report from his shipmates, continued firing at the incoming plane until impact.

He was nineteen years old.

To keep reading this post, click here. 

As I mentioned above, my dad passed away right before the release of Pets in Space 1. This is a video of his comrades in arms honoring him during the graveyard service:

I know I will never forget. We owe veterans and first responders our freedom and our lives. While we run away from danger, they run toward it. Please help those who pay the price by supporting causes that help our injured heroes.

You can help by buying a copy of Pets in Space 3 today, or donating directly to Hero Dogs. You can also help by sharing this post with a friend or family member.

Perilously and thankfully yours,

Pauline