Veterans Day

One of the hazards of writing a weekly column is that no matter what I plan or do, I always seem to be a few days behind the times. So, keeping that in mind…

America’s armed forces, her veterans, and Veterans affairs, are a subject that I quite easily get upset about. Particularly so when I feel that Veterans are being mistreated, or just plain forgotten, in the rush of “politics as usual” in Washington. Locally, I get involved in veterans organizations, and I take part in the Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. As the high point of Veterans Day a couple of weeks ago, I attended the assembly at Grangeville High School where Pat Sullivan’s gang did their usual fantastic job of honoring our local veterans, reminding everyone that freedom is not free, and that which many Americans take so lightly was paid for with the blood of a veteran. (Thanks kids, this old soldier certainly appreciates your efforts.) As an additional item, I took it upon myself to present the County Commissioners with ‘Buddy Poppies’ on the 10th, as a reminder that the following day (Nov. 11th) was Veterans Day. Being a merciful type guy, I kept my “presentation speech” short; as I’m sure they have better things to do than listen to me rant and rave. For those of you who aren’t familiar with them, “Buddy Poppies” are those small red artificial flowers you’ll often see old soldiers handing out as they solicit donations to aid their less fortunate buddies, American veterans who did not come home whole. They originated shortly after WW I in memory of the poppy fields of Flanders, where so many young soldiers were laid to rest, and they provided a reminder of the terrible cost of that war. Today they are a symbol of the service… and sacrifice… of American veterans of all wars.

We usually celebrate Veterans Day, no less so than Memorial Day, with parades, speeches, civic ceremonies, and what have you. Usually the references are, as they should be, of WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq/Afghanistan. But not much is said about the Cold War unfortunately. No, it was not a declared war, but it could get just as deadly, and it started right after WW II. It included such challenges as the Berlin airlift and the Berlin Wall, the U-2 incident, nearly a hundred US military aircraft shoot-downs, the Cuban missile crisis, the Quemoy / Matsu / Formosa confrontations, the KAL airliner shoot-down, and many, many, other incidents. It finally ended when the Berlin Wall came down and the Evil Empire collapsed. For forty-five years America’s cold warriors stood watch, day and night, over political borders world wide. They served hundreds of feet below the arctic ice aboard nuclear submarines. They stood alert duty at countless fighter bases, bomber bases, and missile silos. They suffered endless hours of boredom at remote radar sites around the world watching the skies for an attack that never came, or perhaps they sailed the stormy seas on seemingly endless patrols. Her warriors stood ceaseless watch over America, never knowing if, or when, the Cold War was going to turn blazingly hot. While they may, or may not, have heard shots fired in anger, they too endured mind-numbing hardship, privation, loneliness, and personal danger. They, more than anyone else, kept the Soviet bear at arms length. They too are veterans, as much so as those who fought our countries better known declared wars.

A veteran is often described as an individual who, at some point in his life, wrote a blank check to ‘The United States of America’ for an amount of ‘up to and including my life’. During these two-hundred and forty-three years of our nations’ existence, millions of young Americans have written those checks and worn the uniform, placing themselves between our homeland and war’s desolation. Well over a million of those checks have been cashed in that time, leaving many bright futures cut short, because, for one reason or another, our politicians failed in their duty.

To our elected officials at every level, I’ll say this… The Republic will always produce soldiers who will stand in her defense, risking all, and paying that terrible price, as long as we remain a nation of free men. We form a long and sometimes ragged line stretching through time from Lexington and Concord to Antietam and Appomattox Courthouse, we were at San Juan Hill, the Marne, Chateau-Thierry, and Belleau Wood. We fought at places like Midway, Iwo Jima, Normandy, and in those terrible skies over Berlin. We well remember the blood soaked ground of Pork Chop Hill, Hamburger Hill, the Ia Drang valley, and Khe Sanh. Today our Brothers and Sisters stand fast in Iraq and Afghanistan. We live by the honored motto of West Point; Duty… Honor… Country. We’re immensely proud of our history, and that of our nation. When called, we fight for an ideal, that of America being a nation with freedom and justice for all.

But do not waste our young lives on political theories, notions, or whims. Do not allow vacuous rhetoric, the politics of your election, or those of your particular party to intrude on your decisions, lest you fail your solemn duty. Remember that our lives are, as are those of all Americans, a quite precious treasure, not to be thrown away lightly. When, and after serious consideration, much soul searching, and hopefully prayer, you conclude that we must go to war, we will do your biding, we will fight your battles, we will slay your dragons. But remember too, that if the object is not to win, then the problem is hardly worth risking our lives over. We in our turn only ask that you give us the wherewithal to accomplish our assigned mission, and that you be our guardians in taking every step to avoid unnecessary loss of life, so that we might return home safe and whole.

We, America’s veterans, willingly signed those checks and went in harms way, to buy time. That is, after all, what soldiering is about; buying the precious time for you to correct the political mistakes that brings on war. We signed those checks, we gave it our best, and we paid the butcher’s bill so that you, the leaders of our nation could, in relative peace and safety, sit in your seats of power and give our people and our nation your best. I charge you, never forget all those young lives cut short, and never let that sacrifice and suffering have been in vain.