I normally reserved this day at VFTP to commemorate the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when the guns fell silent, but veterans of the Great War are sadly thin on the ground these days.
Every day is Veterans' Day, or it should be, but today is the day set aside to say "Thank You" to those who gave of their time and their selves to defend this nation. If it takes a special day on the calendar to get someone to thank a vet, today is the day.
But it shouldn't.
.
You're welcome.
ReplyDeleteHope the shnozz is feeling better soon.
The service was small and the honor great.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Veterans' Day is every day. It was awkward the first time or two, but every single time I see someone wearing one of the black hats with yellow embroidery or with veteran's plates, etc... I make it a point to stop them to thank them. If they're a jarhead, they get an Ooh Rah or a Semper Fi.
ReplyDeleteI do admit to going squee-like when I met an Iwo Jima vet from WWII, though.
Saw an elder gentleman yesterday in Sam's Club wearing a WWII cap. Had to stop and thank him, there are so few left.
ReplyDeleteIn Flanders Fields
ReplyDeleteLieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
If you've never heard this poem put to music, I recommend this version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WCd3lQY0o8
Applebees was doing a free entree for active duty and vets today....normally I stop and try to shake the hand of anyone who's served or is serving, but we drove up, and it was pretty much 75% military in there! Never seen so many service ballcaps in one place! It honestly felt like walking in to a reunion, I've never really felt that at home in a looooong time. Talked with another sub vet, couple of Marines, couple of disabled vets...I'll be going back there again next year! Lots of businesses/restaurants did similar things, but Applebee's got our service because they didn't have limited hours. Its Veteran's Day ALL DAY. Chili's stopped at 5pm.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone else who's serving or has served in one of the 5 branches (including the National Guard and Active Reserves), thank you, and :salute:.
I always feel corny when I am able to buy a meal for a .mil. I don't feel worthy, having never served myself. But I still do it when I can.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Veteran isn't too much to ask of a citizen, but aside from the 'thank you' I am always going to recommend you take time to listen to them, give them the courtesy and stand up to stupid that mocks their service, especially since many of them went for love that stupid will never understand.
ReplyDeleteArmistice Day having fallen on a Sunday this year, I feel in a way somewhat betrayed.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I and millions like me served and continue to serve so that county, state and federal employees could have the day off. When it falls on a Sunday I feel like our sacrifices were all in vain.
Oh, wait - they're getting Monday off. Well, now - that's better.
gvi
Thanks Tam.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. Hope you are doing OK.
ReplyDeleteWE SHOULD REMEMBER ALL OUR VETERANS
ReplyDeletePLEASE REFER TO MY COMMENTS OF ROBERTA'S
BLOG FOR ARMISTICE DAY
I used to get so embarrassed when someone would recognize veterans. Now I'm more comfortable with it and a bit prouder of it. Yeah, I spent three years digging and refilling holes in the 25 ID(L) but there were half a dozen guys I knew that didn't even make it back from that. Then my 5 years of Nasty Girl service, hanging out at the Armory hiding from the Divisional Brass here in Indy.
ReplyDeleteBut it clicked at some point that part of the sacrifice, and sometimes the hard part, was volunteering for God knows what in the first place. I take more pride in my service the last 4 or 5 years than I did at any time leading up to that except maybe Basic and Air Assault graduations.
Did 4 years active (1973-77) at Ft Knox (ROTC scholarship). Worst danger I was in was in excessively pissing off a particular LTC, but the alternative was letting him screw over a Spec 5. Best thing was in working with several outstanding people who happened to be NCOs nominally under my supervision. Oh, and lots of "war stories", some of which actually bear a passing resemblance to reality.
ReplyDeleteWe had a gentleman come to visit us at work, survivor of the Bataan death march. He carried a wounded man (glancing wound to the head) with him. He married the wounded man's sister, and the nice photo of the liberated men, he pointed out, were after they had been issued new clothes upon liberation.
ReplyDelete"The uniform 'e wore
Was nothin' much before,
An' rather less than 'arf o' that be'ind,...."
was how Kipling described Gunga Din's uniform, but it seemed that the men were mostly naked as the day they were born when they were liberated.
Me, peacetime service on the Fulda Gap, and grateful to the gent's who made that all that I had to do.
How nice of you Tam. They are the men who served their country and they should be acknowledged for what they did, not because of a particular date, but because they deserve it.
ReplyDeleteWhat Larry and Woodman said.
ReplyDelete'T'weren't nothin' but a thing. . . didn't do much and didn;t get shot at; but glad I did it, proud I did it, don't need an annual free burger for it* -- I figure I get paid back in full every Election Day. (Even this last one.)
*(Don't get me wrong -- I very much appreciate free burgers, thank you very much. . . for the thought more than anything else. Can't recall ever actually taking advantage of a Veteran's Day "vets only" special, though. . . )
One of my housemates is a vet. I cooked him a pot of soup.
ReplyDeleteHe is an actual WWII vet, and got an Army of Occupation medal, though he is only 55 years old.
He was in the Berlin Brigade in the seventies, and the Second World War did not officially end until, oh, 1990 or so, when we agreed to start leaving Germany alone again. You play nice now, Marko!