Karen Hirstein was  born in Springfield, Illinois as the youngest of 12 children. I was a bowler for many years and I played softball until my late 40's. I was a little bit of a stinker as I got a lot of my siblings in trouble when I was young.   I grew up knowing the my oldest brother was KIA in Korea in 1950, we buried him in 1953 then in January of 1954 we buried by sister. I am married to a Vietnam veteran and very proud of him after going through the harsh returns from  being overseas. To this day there are still people that think these servicemen requested to go to Vietnam. I was married in 1968 and a year later I had my first daughter, several years later I had my second daughter unfortunately she was killed in a car accident right after her 16^th birthday. I am very proud of my husband for all that he has done for his country, I continue to work trying to make veterans lives a little better.