Veterans Day

Since the American Revolution, a select group of Americans has always answered the call to duty. Many do not seek a military career, but do feel compelled to serve their time during a national conflict, then come home and be civilians again.
Nearly everyone knows someone who is a veteran – most of us have grandfathers who served in World War II or Korea, fathers or mothers who served in Vietnam, or sisters or brothers now in Iraq.
The price of serving one’s country in wartime has always been high. During World War I, in only one year, the U.S. suffered over 116,000 men killed. In World War II, more than 405,000 American soldiers died, in the Korean War nearly 44,000 died, and in Vietnam we lost over 58,000. It is my belief that it is the soldier on the front lines, not politicians, America industrial might, or the number of planes or ships produced, that ultimately wins the war. It is these people that are asked to do the killing, asked to take positions known to be well-defended, and asked to perform difficult feats under fire that after- action reports can never truly describe.
Many soldiers win medals for these actions, but thousands more go unrecognized for their heroism. Many, like my great uncle Don who flew supplies in the Burma Theater, never saw the enemy, but he still faced the challenge of navigating his C-46 cargo plane through volatile weather over treacherous mountain peaks.
When their involvement in the war is over, these veterans come home and attempt to live a normal life, but in the words of Harold Moore, author of We Were Soldiers Once… And Young, “Those who were, miraculously, unscratched, were by no means untouched.” Serving in the military is a job that a changes a person’s life, whether or not they see combat.
In my own family, my great uncle Joe, who survived island fighting in World War II and watched one of his best friends die right in front of him, would only talk about it in private to his brother Les, and even then, only briefly. Les, meanwhile, served late in World War II and never made it out of the U.S.; he guarded S.S. prisoners and worked on ships in San Diego, but talked about his time in the Navy until the day he died.
Despite their sacrifices, veterans have asked for very little in return. The vast majority says about their acts of heroism, that they were not doing it for their country; they were doing it for the men next to them. The veterans I have met, without exception, are modest about their military service and say they were only doing their job.
Today our veterans stand as a testament of American strength and what we must overcome to remain free. Many are now in the twilight of their lives; World War II veterans are dying at a rate of 1,200-1,500 a day and are now in their late 80s; many Korean War veterans are in their early 70s; Vietnam veterans are now entering their 60s.
While many monuments have been built to honor veterans, I believe that our generation should do two things: first, talk to someone you know who is a veteran – I’ve found of the veterans I've talked to always show surprise at the interest of a younger audience in their experiences and are, more often than not, willing to talk about them. Next, visit a national cemetery for veterans to understand what numbers cannot really show: the true scope of sacrifice of the many people who have fallen in defense of this country.