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Happy Veteran's Day!
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Author:  Foamy [ Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:48 am ]
Post subject:  Happy Veteran's Day!
To all of our soldier's here on the Glade and anywhere in the world and especially to those who have fallen in service to our country.

Thank you!

/Salute
Author:  Talya [ Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Happy Veteran's Day!
Here we call it "Rememberance Day."

On Tuesday, June 6th, 1944, at 0630, Allied forces began what would hold up as the largest amphibious military assault in history. Over the next several days, 175,000 Allied soldiers (approximately 89,000 American, 61,000 British, and 25,000 Canadian soldiers) stormed entrenched German coastal defenses held by 380,000 german defenders, during wind and high seas that made air support and naval landings problematic. The casualties among the first waves of landings were horrific, and the battles long and protracted, but by the end of D-Day, allied forces had captured their objectives at Juno Beach. The other landing sites would take longer, but were also ultimately successful. Not to be overlooked (as we tend to do), are the efforts of the French Resistance, whose intelligence helped make D-Day possible, and heroic acts of sabotage made German counter-attacks far weaker than they would otherwise have been.

One day has become symbolic in our minds for the sacrifices of so many over the last century. The soldiers that have given their lives for freedom in those conflicts were products of a society that I doubt would show the same mettle if pressed to do so today. We make the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq sound like great conflicts and our losses there devastating, but that one day in World War 2 cost almost as many allied lives as 7 years in those places. We don't know what it is to sacrifice or fight anymore.

I leave you with a poem from a WWI Canadian soldier that nearly every Canadian can recite parts of by rote.

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.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)


On November 11th every year, you will see nearly every Canadian wearing a little poppy pin on in rememberance of those who gave everything to make the world safer for the rest of us. Before you ever consider trading away even one of our individual freedoms, even the seemingly least significant of them, for any reason at all, think on how many died for us to have them.
Author:  Micheal [ Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:42 am ]
Post subject: 
Talya, while each of the holidays is worthy and honorable, I think your Remembrance Day more closely coincides with our Memorial Day, the 4th Monday in May when we honor our fallen in all of our wars. That our Veterans Day and your Remembrance Day fall on the same day is not coincidence, they celebrate and honor the same event in different ways.

Today the United States honors the Armistice achieved at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, and honors the Veterans still among us, those who have survived the terrible wars. We honor those still living who went through hell so that we may be safe and enjoy our Freedoms.

Remembering the fallen is an excellent thing to do, appropriate, proper, and reminds the citizens of what Freedom costs. Remembering those still living is also important. Right now, we are losing about 1200 Veterans a day, including those from all wars now passing. For the WWII and Korean Conflict Vets it is now the infirmities of old age that are taking them. For the Viet Nam, Desert Storm, and Terror Wars vets, suicide is the major taker of lives. Not just the military, but the medical community still doesn't know how to deal with the mental anguish caused by war. The earliest description I have come across of what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder deals with pre-Christian Roman Veterans, and why giving them land to farm on the frontier was a good solution to a bad situation. The powers that be understood that these old warriors were not comfortable in the cities, and the lower human contact a farmer generally has would be better for them, and safer for the majority of citizens (including of course, the powers that be.) An advantage to this plan was having veterans, men already trained as soldiers with many years of duty behind them, on the frontier, men who knew how to fight could be the first wave of defense against new invaders as well as scouts familiar with the territory and couriers who could get a report back to the commanders.

This is why it is so important to remember and honor those who have fought the wars. While many came through the wars and resumed their lives as pivate citizens, many were seriously wounded, lost limbs or lost part of their sanity. Many are still locked inside their memories and emotions, fighting the wars forever. The amazing numbers of Veterans who come back wounded in this way is shown by the inability of our Veterans Administration to come close to treating their problems.

To the veterans, thank you, for every freedom we enjoy, for every moment we have to enjoy them. I continue to vote for continuing and adding benefits for Veterans when they show up on the ballots.
Author:  Kairtane [ Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Happy Veteran's Day!
I'll answer for those no longer able. You're welcome.

I am a veteran. I served 17 years, 6 active and 11 in the National Guard. I know some of those who never came home. One of them was a roommate of mine at Ft Sill, OK. He died in a stupid, preventable accident in Korea thirteen years ago. I still think of him almost daily. For those of us who served, every day is Veteran's Day, we can't not think of our fallen brethren. I always cry when I hear Taps for this reason. The military service is one of the few places where you literally sign your life away, only you don't know when, how or if they'll collect.

edit: added second paragraph, the one line response sounded snarky to me after I posted
Author:  Vindicarre [ Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:54 am ]
Post subject: 
Thank you for your service, and sacrifice.
Author:  darksiege [ Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:43 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thank you for your sacrifices in the name of America.
Author:  Elmarnieh [ Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:20 pm ]
Post subject: 
Happy Veterans Day Hannibal!
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