This time of year it's in vogue to celebrate the sacrifice of America's veterans. Since the days of Lexington and Concord, they've selflessly answered the call to serve their countrymen and defend our way of life.
All too often, they've paid with their sacrifice in blood, sweat and tears. On battlefields across the globe, they've laid maimed and deceased so that all we have to worry about back home is peacefully fighting for the ideals enshrined in our Constitution.
From Gettysburg to Belleau Wood to Midway, it's no exaggeration to say their sacrifice has sustained our Republic and changed the course of history.
Unfortunately, today we have two Americans. On one side stand the 99% who've never served in uniform. Their closest experience to combat comes when “Saving Private Ryan” airs on basic cable.
The remaining 1% constitute the United States' all-volunteer military force. Those whose experience we can, perhaps, emphasize with but never truly understand.
With less than 1% of World War II veterans clinging to life, few of us these days even have relatives who've served.
But that doesn't mean we can't do more to show our appreciation for our veterans. Especially those quietly struggling with physical and psychological wounds.
Supporting the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes with a tax-deductible donation may be the most important thing you can do today. In recent days, the coalition has issued a clarion call to patriots everywhere to provide every disabled veteran with a proper Thanksgiving meal.
No veteran should have to go to a food pantry tomorrow, and your donation will help make sure that doesn't happen.
Your donation will bring a smile to a veteran and their family. Most importantly, it will show them, in no uncertain terms, that they are not alone.
Sponsored
You Will Make a DifferenceThe Fight Continues Past Thanksgiving…
Past Thanksgiving, the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes fights every day to make veterans' lives better.
The Coalition works tirelessly, 365 days a year, to provide direct financial aid to disabled veterans in need.
For a better sense of the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes' steadfast commitment to service, here's President & Chief Executive Officer David W. Walker sharing his thoughts about the significance of Veterans Day.
It is a great honor to be invited to address you on Veterans Day right here in our hometown of Lovettsville where my wife and I have lived the past 30 years. This truly is God's country where people cherish the flag and celebrate the heroes who defend it.
Today is Veterans Day. Just a short 50 miles away from here in Washington, D.C. there are monuments to give Veterans tribute and grand commemorations happening to also honor them as we speak. But the best commemorations are happening at small towns like ours throughout this great country, where truly the heart of America is proudly on display.
We are here to honor and commemorate the men and women who in every war since our founding have given their loyalty and courage, and even put their lives on the line in defense of our liberties.
Today we gather together, united, as one does when they have a special remembrance. Those men and women and their families have sacrificed so much in order that we may have our freedom. Our gathering here today is an expression of that freedom.
They died that this country might continue and that it might fulfill the great hopes of its Founders.
We, because of where we live, have a unique position of understanding the degree of the sacrifice given. Just a short drive from here is the Antietam battlefield, where in a short span of a few minutes whole regiments lost 50 to 75 percent of their numbers – 23,000 casualties in all, the greatest one day death toll in our history. Men died for the possession of a corn field, or a rocky hill, but they did not die for mere ground. They died that this country might continue and that it might fulfill the great hopes of its Founders.
From our fiery birth in 1776 to freedom's continued struggles today with ISIS and terrorists, America's veterans have always answered the call and given their all whenever tyrants and despots imperil freedom and democracy.
Veterans Day was originally christened as Armistice Day to honor those who fought in The Great War, which was what we called World War I before we knew there would be a World War II. Congress had created Armistice Day as an annual holiday. The date of November 11 was chosen because the Great War officially ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It was dearly hoped, and perhaps even believed by some, that the Great War was The War to End All Wars.
But then only 21 years later we were caught up in an even worse conflict we now know as World War II, in which many more of our fellow Americans gave their lives for our country. So a few years after the end of World War II, in 1954, Congress officially changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day – in which we honor all of those who have fought and bled for our country in all of the wars that have taken place even before World War I and those after World War II.
By the way, the last surviving veteran of World War I was Frank Woodruff Buckles who died of natural causes on February 27, 2011, at the ripe old age of 110. At that age, no one really needs to ask what you died of, only what took so long.
Veterans Day is set aside to honor all veterans who have worn the nation's uniforms. Memorial Day for the ones who never made it home. Today we nonetheless tip the hat to all.
The conflicts we are engaged in today are unlike those that went before.
The conflicts we are engaged in today are unlike those that went before. In World War II, our country was literally fighting for survival against aggressive powers that sought to conquer the world.
Some call World War II the “good war” because there was strong support throughout our society.
But there are no good wars. In war, brave men and women are killed and children suffer. Cities are laid waste. Resources that should go to building, healing and teaching go instead to destruction.
We have seen our share from Korea, and then Vietnam, Desert Storm, to the broader war on terror, to the present-day conflicts today in Europe.
We fight not because war is good, but because liberty is precious and commands a dear cost. We fight to defend our way of life and our values because we believe they are true and God-given. We fight not because we believe in war, or to advance our nation's power, but because we are determined to defend our heritage, and convey it to future generations.
Like you all, I share a military tradition which members of my family have served in uniform over the years. But even those of us not called upon to serve were raised to honor the sacrifices of those who did serve and especially those who paid the ultimate price.
Today, our nation finds itself engaged in a different kind of war, not against other nations, but against forces of terror that have contempt for our values, beliefs and way of life. They send suicide bombers to destroy women and children. They shoot little girls for learning to read. They acknowledge no sense of honor or restraint.
Make no mistake, the enemies we fight today are the embodiment of evil and will stop at nothing in their determination to destroy us and our values.
Today, as always, we rely for our defense on a thin line of brave young patriots – men and women of all races, creeds and colors – who shoulder the burden of freedom daily all over the world, in more than 80 countries, ferreting out the enemy, meeting him in combat, fighting in defense of freedom.
Their cause – our cause – is the United States of America, but also much more than a country. We are fighting for civilization itself against forces determined to take humanity into a dark age of ignorance, hatred and endless violence.
Back in the earlier days, our country was deeply involved with the military services and every household just about had at least one member who had served in uniform. But today people in uniform represent a tiny sliver of the population – less than one percent. The sacrifices our defenders make on our behalf barely scrape the surface of our consciousness. That consciousness of course was high when the nightly news showed body bags returning from the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq. But since the fighting in those nations has declined, so has our national awareness of the sacrifices of our defenders.
The veterans of those wars – like the veterans of all wars – do not just disappear, and neither does the pain of their battlefield wounds…
That is unfortunate and unfair. The veterans of those wars – like the veterans of all wars – do not just disappear, and neither does the pain of their battlefield wounds, both physical and mental. Medical science provided marvelous treatments for physical wounds incurred in combat, but has been less effective in treating the post-traumatic stress disorder incurred in combat – PTSD. Only today are we beginning to develop effective treatments for PTSD, but it is slow going.
In the meantime, thousands of victims of PTSD are struggling to maintain a viable connection to society, to hold down jobs, maintain their marriages and take care of their children. But the pandemic and ensuing economic disruption has disrupted much of their progress. Actual homelessness among veterans, especially female veterans, is on the rise.
The Coalition to Salute America's Heroes is the only one that actually provides direct financial aid to wounded veterans in need.
My organization, the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, is one among many groups created to help veterans, but we are the only one that actually provides direct financial aid to wounded veterans in need. We are a small charity and obviously, there are limits to how much aid we can provide. But we were keeping pace with demand – until the pandemic.
Now the demands for our help have more than doubled, at the same time that the public donations that make our work possible are declining.
But we are determined to soldier on. The pressures besetting the people we serve are relentless, but so are we. We do it because we owe them – and because we love them.
“The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten.” We will not forget.
President Coolidge said long ago, “The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten.” We will not forget. America will not forget. We will not forget those who served and those that died. We will not forget those who do the hard work of freedom every day. And we will never forget the 80,000 POWs and the MIAs yet to be accounted for.
A year from now, 100 years from now, citizens will come here on November 11th to remember. And yet we cannot confine our obligation to a single day. We must always remember the importance of preparedness and the high cost of liberty.
For more than 60 years, 24 hours a day, a lone sentinel has kept a silent vigil aside the Tomb of the Unknowns. And recently, one of the outstanding men who guard the tomb was asked what is it is like here at night, alone, in the quiet of this place. And he said he felt a kinship to the men resting here; that this was where he wanted to be, here to honor his comrades and all they represent. “Sometimes,” this young PFC said, “The rain streaks in your eyes or your fingers go numb from cold, but then I think about what they suffered through. And after that my duty doesn't seem hard at all.”
There's a poem the honor guards learn that says it all. “You are guarding the world's most precious gifts. You, you alone, are the symbol of 300 million people who wish to show their gratitude. And you will march through the rain, the snow, and the heat to prove it.”
We celebrate this Veterans Day for a few minutes, a few seconds of silence and then our lives go on. In a world tormented by tension and the possibilities of conflict, we meet in a quiet commemoration of an historic day of peace. In an age that threatens the survival of freedom, we join together to honor those that made freedom possible.
To the men and women of our Armed Forces and to all our veterans, know that you have our country's gratitude. Veterans Day gives us an opportunity to remember the brave men and women in uniform who risk their lives daily to preserve our security. Every day I thank God for the privilege of living in a free country, and for the men and women who make that possible. I count myself especially privileged to serve them. May God bless you and the country we live – America. Thank you.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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