What I remember most about that day is playing army with my cousins, watching the fireworks, running around and jumping into somersaults and sprawling out on the ground after the giant booms and how my grandfather had to ask us to stop. The way he asked has stayed with me to this day. I never saw him look like that before, like he might cry. It scared the hell out of me. He told us how Robbie was having a hard time with the sound of the fireworks and now wasn't the right time to pretend to be blown up. Then, all I could think was how sad it was that fireworks (fun!) could make somebody feel so bad that it could make my grandfather look that worried for him.
That's almost thirty years ago (man, I feel old saying that) and even now I get a knot of Angry-Sad-It's-Not-Fair in my throat thinking about those fireworks, my grandfather, and my uncle. Rob has always had "Favorite Distant Uncle" status. He got me my first computer ... a VIC 20 with a tape drive and a modem. I played Shamus and read a Bulletin Board he posted to back then, The Democratic Secular Humanist Egg. He was (and is) the coolest.
My family is full of veterans and active duty ... but it's my Uncle Robert I choose to honor first and foremost.