November 11th, 11 AM, 1918.  The guns fell silent, except for a few odd actions here and there mostly in the old Ottoman Empire and in Russia. The Great War, The War To End All Wars, World War I was over.  The following year, President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11th to be Armistice Day noting the day should be “... filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service.” In 1938 the Armistice Day was made official by an Act of Congress and in 1954 it was renamed Veteran's day to add to it the heroes of World War II and Korea.

As I surfed through the blogs and through the web yesterday, I was struck by the number of mentions of pride in our veterans, of the acknowledgement of their heroism in our past wars, and in our current wars.  But what I didn't see, was and awful lot of recitation of that courage and heroism in the Main Stream Media.  Oh, I don't mean there wasn't some there, but I'm remembering in years past, and as someone in their 60's that covers a lot of years, the celebratory nature of newspapers with multiple and lengthy articles on those who we honor.  As a child in Germany I remember the parades my Dad would take us too on the nearby military bases.  I remember emulating my Dad's salute as the colors marched by.  And looking with awe on those monstrous machines including tanks, halftracks, 155 mm artillary pieces and my favorite of all, the Jeep or G.P. the ubiquitous General Purpose vehicle common on military fields from WWII on to the First Gulf War.

I also remember some of the anger and hostility at anti-war demonstrations in the 60s and early 70s when the military was not looked on with favor by a majority of the American public, at least not pubically.  When expressions of patriotism was looked on askance.  When one expected the old signs of the previous century to come up again, "No Irish or Soldiers welcome here." When, being a soldier or a Marine, a sailor or an airman was truly a thankless job. 

The war in Vietnam, dividing the country had cast a pall on what it meant to be a veteran and a patriot.  In 1980 we elected Ronald Reagan who called the U.S. the "shining city on the hill" and once again, as even his detractors will acknowledge, patriotism became popular, waving the flag an OK thing to do and being a Veteran with a Capital V was once again a thing to be proud of. 

I grew up in the Army, my dad was in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.  As a family, before I left for college, we lived in four states, two continents and I went to 10 different schools before graduating from High School and I can't think of a finer life.  Following my Dad's footsteps, I enlisted in 1969 fully expecting to go to Vietnam also, but that didn't happen.  I've always, however been proud to be a Veteran, and at no time in the last 37 years can I remember not being proud of having served, but not all felt that way.  There were those who honorably believed that having been a Vietnam Vet was something not something they were proud of such as the VVAW.  Then there were those such as John Kerry who used their Vietnam service as a political ploy and shamed their fellow vets.  And there were those who claimed to have been Vets or if indeed they were Vets, claimed to have been more then they were (see Stolen Valor and Fake Warriors) and today we see such as Jesse Macbeth and Scott Beauchamp using military service to denigrate our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And all this causes me to wonder.  There is a phrase that says "If you can read this, thank a teacher!  If you can read this in English, thank a Soldier," and this encompasses an awful lot of truth.  Surely, had the Central Powers or the Axis Powers won in WWI or WWII respectively, the history of the world would be vastly different, and not for the better.  In fact, there is a substantial majority of American citizens who do not know that the enemy in WWI was not just the Kaiser's Germany, but also the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungry Empire and I'd bet that even fewer knew that they were called the Central Powers.

Today, there are those who decry the war in Iraq and a few who decry the war in Afghanistan and spred various canards about the actions of the Military or exaggerate some of the truly shameful actions into theater wide atrocities.  Yet the truth of the matter is, that the Military is not, as it is in other countries, the final authority in that country, our military serves the People of the United States through the Congress and the Presidency and to a lesser extent through the courts.  As such, the military in peace and in war, serves us, all of us, either through projection of force, or the actual use of force and without the military the very freedoms that all of us enjoy, be it on the right or the left, would be non-existant.  It is ONLY due to the valor of the active duty individuals who eventually become Veterans that you can read this blog entry, or that you have the freedom to write a comment agreeing or disagreeing with me.

It is only because we have Veterans, men and women who answered the call, who rode to the sound of combat, who cherished that which we call America including Mom and Apple Pie that I can pass on to my daughter what was passed on to me; Freedom!

So the next time you see a Veteran, say thanks, and know that they offered themselves for your freedoms.

Posted at 09:15 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 1008 words, total size 6 kb.