The Origins of Veterans' Day:

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, became the focal point of reverence for America's veterans.

Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation's highest place of honor... These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became known as "Armistice Day"....

Realizing that peace was equally preserved by veterans of WW II and Korea, Congress was requested to make this day an occasion to honor those who have served America in all wars. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day....

A law passed in 1968 changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date....

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.
~ G. K. Chesterton

Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes.
~ Carl Sandburg

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

They wish to hell they were someplace else, and they wish to hell they would get relief. They wish to hell the mud was dry and they wish to hell their coffee was hot. They want to go home. But they stay in their wet holes and fight, and then they climb out and crawl through minefields and fight some more.
~ Bill Mauldin

They were called grunts, and many of them, however grudgingly, were proud of the name. They were the infantrymen, the foot soldiers of the war.
~ Bernard Edelman

Men acquainted with the battlefield will not be found amoung the numbers that glibly talk of another war.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

For my Dad who served in the Army Air Corp WWII and Korea, for my friends who served with me in the Air Force, during Vet Nam and Desert Storm, for my son who served in Marine Recon in places we will never tell his mother about. For all Veterans, Thank you.

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! ~Maya Angelou



This is a good thread to keep going all year 'round. Thank you for starting it, August.

But fame is theirs - and future days
On pillar'd brass shall tell their praise;
Shall tell - when cold neglect is dead -
"These for their country fought and bled."
~ Philip Freneau

Old soldiers, Miss Dandridge. Someday you’ll learn how they hate to give up. Captain of a troop one day, every man’s face turned toward ya. Lieutenants jump when I growl. Now tomorrow, I’ll be glad if the blacksmith asks me to shoe a horse.
~ Capt. Nathan Brittles (John Wayne), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

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.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

************************************

One of the most memorable and poignient war poems ever written.
I am just about to head out to our local service of rememberence where I shall join with others to remember the fallen of countless wars and to add my own prayer that one day mankind will grow wise enough to give up this stupid habit of killing each other for the possession of territory and resources or differences of opinion about which God is the right one.


Séamus

Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
~ Otto von Bismarck

All of us who served in one war or another know very well that all wars are the glory and the agony of the young.
~ Gerald R. Ford

On this Veterans Day, let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free.
~ Congressman Dan Lipinski

The willingness of which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were Treated and Appreciated by there nation.
~ George Washington

This is a picture of the grandson of a friend of mine who lost her son earlier this year. I share this in memory of Marc and as an expression of graditude for the many sacrifices made to preserve freedom.

Son accepts flag.

Veterans Day, today, was made a little more special for me. My brother sent me some 50 photos that had been sent to him by one of the grandaughters of my dads B17 crew. From their days in training, to combat photo's, to shots of them standing outside there dinning mess. Seeing pictures of my dad looking half my age was a attention getter. He was stationed at RAF Kimbolton with the 379th Bombardment Group (Heavy). The field is located about 8 miles west of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. Just down the road were I was stationed 30 years later at RAF Lakenheath. I've spent the day going over the photos, cleaning them up as much as I can. I'll take my computer over tomorrow and show them to him make any copyies he wants, and go to our local Veteran's post where members of, and have lunch.


Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done,
Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In doing what we ought, we deserve no praise, because it is our duty.
~ Saint Aurelius Augustine

A moth-eaten rag on a worm-eaten pole,
It does not look likely to stir a man's soul.
'Tis the deeds that were done 'neath the moth-eaten rag, When the pole was a staff, and the rag was a flag.
~ Sir Edward Bruce Hamley

In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. ~Mark Twain, Notebook, 1935