Veteran's Day

[Lucky]

So far no mention of the day we remember all those hunky* young men who gave their lives and their bodies in sacrifice to their country. We may wish that they hadn't.or hadn't needed to, but the result is the same.Thousands of young men who might otherwise be with us are not, and thousands of young children never met their grandfathers or great grandfathers. It's a loss to the entire country.

*Since they are lost and gone, and this is a site that appreciates such things, why not let them all be hunks for at least this one day.

[Lucky]

Such a lack of interest in Veteran's Day. I guess it's a sign of the times. When were soldiers last popular?

[BigK]

Veterans Day is pretty big here in Texas. I went to the car wash today and they were offering free car washes to veterans. Many restaurants are offering free meals, and we had a parade in Houston.

[MsGuy]

Sometimes it's hard to untangle an honest effort to honor vets from an effort to brainwash young males on the glory of dying in some god-awful hellhole in furtherance of old man's notions of geopolitical strategy.

Dolce et decorum est pro patria mori.

Taken from a poem by the Roman poet Horace.

To suffer hardness with good cheer,
In sternest school of warfare bred,
Our youth should learn; let steed and spear
Make him one day the Parthian's dread;
Cold skies, keen perils, brace his life.
Methinks I see from rampired town
Some battling tyrant's matron wife,
Some maiden, look in terror down,—
“Ah, my dear lord, untrain'd in war!
O tempt not the infuriate mood
Of that fell lion I see! from far
He plunges through a tide of blood!”
What joy, for fatherland to die!
Death's darts e'en flying feet o'ertake,
Nor spare a recreant chivalry,
A back that cowers, or loins that quake

[Guest CharliePS]

Since this is the anniversary of the armistice which ended World War I, it is perhaps fitting to also quote a poet who took Horace's line and turned it on its head:

Dulce et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our back,

And toward our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.--

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs

Bitten as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen was killed in battle exactly one week before the armistice.

[Guest NCBored]

So far no mention of the day we remember all those hunky* young men who gave their lives and their bodies in sacrifice to their country. We may wish that they hadn't.or hadn't needed to, but the result is the same.Thousands of young men who might otherwise be with us are not, and thousands of young children never met their grandfathers or great grandfathers. It's a loss to the entire country.

*Since they are lost and gone, and this is a site that appreciates such things, why not let them all be hunks for at least this one day.

From Wikipedia:

Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day; Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving.^[

I salute all who served.

[MsGuy]

Good catch, Charlie. I had Owen's poem in mind when I composed my post.

----

Hunting and fishing clubs around the country have programs set up to provide outdoors opportunities for injured vets. No hoopla, no flag waving, just ordinary folks going out of their way to help give disabled vets the chance to get out & fish and hunt. Now that's the kind of honoring of vets I salute.

[AdamSmith]

Also quite a few restaurants around the country offer free meals on Veterans Day to veterans, enlisted people, and often their families.

http://freebies.about.com/od/freefood/tp/veterans-day-free-meals.htm

Some report this trend was given its biggest boost by the guy who heads the Golden Corral chain. If so, kudos. There was a big crowd at our local one yesterday.

[msclelovr]

Interesting thread, and if you'll permit a different perspective...it is a day that is still venerated in the UK. For some weeks before, red poppies (a symbol of World War I) are sold on the street; the proceeds go to charities for veterans. The poppies are worn by both men and women, normally high up on the chest.

The evening before, there is a concert from the Royal Albert Hall to honour past and present servicemen and women. The Royal family and politicians attend and it is televised on the BBC.

On Remembrance Sunday, there is a major parade of 10,000 veterans in central London and smaller parades and ceremonies throughout the country. The London ceremony of remembrance is televised, attended by politicians from all parties and led by The Queen. And at 11am, everyone is still, central London is hushed and the nation observes 2 minutes silence in honour of the dead. (The TV coverage is of the Cenotaph, the memorial in central London, surrounded by a sea of wreaths of poppies but there is no commentary for that time).

And again yesterday, there was 2 minutes silence at 11am. Being a normal workday, observance is voluntary but many people in shops and businesses do stop and observe the silence. Of course, times do change: 50 years ago, it was normal for all traffic to halt just before 11am and people stepped out of cars etc to stand in silence in the street.

Here is a link to pictures of the London ceremony http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24887778

[Guest NCBored]

There was a piece on ABC News last night about a band of injured veterans that moved me, and I tracked down this longer item. (apologies, I can't figure out how to embed, so here's a link).

http://youtu.be/b2QBOK1nFL4

[Guest CharliePS]

Interesting thread, and if you'll permit a different perspective...it is a day that is still venerated in the UK. For some weeks before, red poppies (a symbol of World War I) are sold on the street; the proceeds go to charities for veterans. The poppies are worn by both men and women, normally high up on the chest.

The evening before, there is a concert from the Royal Albert Hall to honour past and present servicemen and women. The Royal family and politicians attend and it is televised on the BBC.

On Remembrance Sunday, there is a major parade of 10,000 veterans in central London and smaller parades and ceremonies throughout the country. The London ceremony of remembrance is televised, attended by politicians from all parties and led by The Queen. And at 11am, everyone is still, central London is hushed and the nation observes 2 minutes silence in honour of the dead. (The TV coverage is of the Cenotaph, the memorial in central London, surrounded by a sea of wreaths of poppies but there is no commentary for that time).

And again yesterday, there was 2 minutes silence at 11am. Being a normal workday, observance is voluntary but many people in shops and businesses do stop and observe the silence. Of course, times do change: 50 years ago, it was normal for all traffic to halt just before 11am and people stepped out of cars etc to stand in silence in the street.

Here is a link to pictures of the London ceremony http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24887778

I first encountered this tradition when I lived in London forty years ago. There is an excellent book by Juliet Nicolson called The Great Silence, which recounts the history of how this tradition got started. Although I thought I knew a lot about the period, I was surprised how much interesting cultural history I learned from the book.