Veterans Day

Joseph Ambrose age 86, a WWI veteran at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedication in 1982.

Western Hero honors the sacrifices of 
  
Patrice Vincent

 

Nathan Cirillo

As well as

Jacob Hess, William Lacy, Andrew McAdams, Drew Scobie, Daniel Lee, Andrew Sipple, Edward Balli, Joshua Gray, Christopher Landis, Roberto Skelt, John Pelham, Aaron Torian, Caleb Erickson, David Poirier, Adam Moralee,  James Chaffin, Kerry Danyluk, Clarke Thomas, Rakesh Chauhan, Spencer Faulkner, James Walters, Oliver Thomas, Shawn Farrell, Christian Chandler, Deric Rassmussen, Martin Barreras, Adrian Perkins, Jacob Wykstra, Jason Jones, Matthew Walker, Justin Helton, Aaron Toppen, Scott Studenmund, Jason McDonald, Justin Clouse, Terry Hurne, Brandon Garabrant, David Stewart, Adam Wolff, Thomas Spitzer, Todd Chidgey, Ivo Klusák, Libor Ligac, Jan Šenkýr, David Beneš, Lieskovan Jaroslav, Benjamin Prange, Keith Williams, Donnell Hamilton, Girard Gass, Harold Greene, Samuel Hairston, Matthew Leggett, Christopher Mulalley, Brian Arsenault, Charles Strong, Michael Donahue, Stephan Byus, Rafel Celebudzki, Andrew Weathers, Jonathan Walker, Christopher Kalafut, Jordan Spears.

This Veterans Day

Thank a vet by donating to The Wounded Warrior Project or another worthy cause that serves those who have served.

Better yet, the next time a politician wants to get his war on, using bellicose language and beating war drums, stand up and tell him to STFU.

Beware those beating war drums who have never been to war.

Wars don't just kill people.  They cause much more damage as well, most of it permanent.  Divorce, mental trauma, physical disability.  The cost is high, and it needs to be paid when America is in grave and imminent peril, but the bar must be set high.  Higher than congress set it for George W. Bush.

And if we must go to war, then we go General Sherman on their asses or go home.  Our fighting men and women deserve no less.

The final way you can honor our veterans is to ask your congressman and senators why we are still in Afghanistan, propping up Ali Baba Karzai and his 40,000 Taliban thieves, and training and arming pigs and cockroaches who kill our troops.

On The 11th Hour of the 11th Day...

...  The Great War ended:

Captain Harry S. Truman was serving in an artillery battalion of the Missouri National Guard.  He fired his last round at 10:45 a.m. that day.  Finally, after four long years of the worst mass killing in human history, the guns fell silent.  An estimated ten million had died in the great war.  Then, at last, "all quiet on the western front."

That night, Harry complained that the men of the neighboring French artillery battalion kept him awake.  They had gotten drunk and each one insisted on marching past Harry's bed to salute him and yell, "Vive President Wilson! Vive le Capitaine d'artillerie Americaine!"

On the German side, Corporal Adolf Hitler received the news in a military hospital; he had been temporarily blinded by poison gas.  He cried bitter tears.  For his courage under fire, Corporal Hitler was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class.  He was recommended for this unusually high honor by Captain Hugo Guttman, a Jew.  (William J. Bennett - America, The Last Best hope, Vol II)   

Today is Veterans Day in the United States, and Remembrance Day in Canada, where we pause on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to commemorate the WW I Armistice. The day has grown into a tribute to all veterans of all wars. 

This year we lost our last World War I veteran, Frank Buckles, and the the cohort of living WW II veterans is dwindling rapidly.

Here is a beautiful musical tribute to veterans by Canadian musician Terry Kelly. It is unabashedly patriotic, whether you're Canadian or American, and don't be surprised if it brings a tear or two. I know I can't help it, especially when that line of veterans appears out of the past.