November 11, 2008 (Wednesday)
Today is Veterans’ Day.
When I was a boy, November 11 was celebrated as Armistice Day, remembering the end of the “War to end all wars.” It was a holiday for schools, and we all went downtown to see the great parade, featuring marching bands and troops, and the weapons of war.
On Veteran’s Day we remember all those in our midst who have served in the armed forces.
Although Memorial Day in May is the day set aside to honor those who died in the service of their country, much is said about them on Veterans’ Day as well. We do well to pay special attention to every occasion calling upon the nation to remember their veterans, living and dead.
The election we had last week is a monument in itself to all those who have served their country to purchase our freedom and insure “liberty and justice for all.”
President Woodrow Wilson dreamed of a “League of Nations,” where nations could iron out their differences with diplomacy instead of war. But most were satisfied with a cease fire that we called an “armistice.”
That was in 1918.
Alas, by the 1930’s we began to reap the whirlwind sown by the winds of armistice. Germany, under Hitler, regained its strength and attacked its neighbors with the goal of ruling the world. Japan also rose to power and drew the United States into the conflict with their attack at Pearl Harbor. Italy joined the Axis powers. Hitler broke his treaty with Russia, attacked her and sealed his fate by doing so. After World War II, the United Nations was established, but there was no talk of a “war to end all wars” as after World War I. Russia claimed liberated nations as part of the Soviet Union, the cold war settled in, and erupted as a deadly war in Korea. Later came the Vietnam war, and other conflicts around the world, capped with the onset of terrorism, which eventually made its way onto American shores. Our war with terrorists goes on, wherever they are.
In all of our history, many Americans have unselfishly given themselves to the service of their country in the armed services, and we honor them for that service today.