This Veteran’s Day morning seemed like a good time to share a few thoughts with you.
On the website of The Department Of Veterans Affairs it explains the beginning of Veterans Day in these words:
In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This site, on a hillside overlooking the Potomac River and the city of Washington, D.C., became the focal point of reverence for America’s veterans.
On Memorial Day 1958, two more unidentified American war dead were brought from overseas and interred in the plaza beside the unknown soldier of World War I. One was killed in World War II, the other in the Korean War. In 1984, an unknown serviceman from the Vietnam War was placed alongside the others. The remains from Vietnam were exhumed May 14, 1998, identified as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, and removed for burial. To honor these men, symbolic of all Americans who gave their lives in all wars, an Army honor guard, the 3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), keeps day and night vigil.
If you have ever been present at The Tomb Of The Unknowns during the changing of that guard you probably have a greater understanding & deeper respect for those who have both given years of their lives to the service of this country & those that made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country free.
Tom Brokaw wrote of The Greatest Generation. I’m proud to say that my own father served this country as part of that generation as did many of my relatives. But each generation has had those who have shown their greatness in serving this country. From even before that first unknown soldier in 1921 to those serving today, both men & women, we owe a deep debt of gratitude. On this Veterans Day we should all put our petty political views….and that’s exactly what they are in comparison to what our men & women in uniform deal with every day on the front lines of some far off land that none of us would otherwise give a second thought to…..Today, put them aside.
WWI: 116,500 dead
WWII: 405,399 dead
Korea: 37,000 dead
Vietnam: 58,210 dead
Afghanistan: 10,000 dead
Iraq War: 31,965 dead
The Civil War: 625,000 dead
The American Revolutionary War: 25,000 dead
Put them aside; and for just a moment remember why this country, with all its faults, is still the greatest on the face of the earth.
