Veterans Day Honoring and Remembering All of Our Veterans

Originally known and observed as Armistice Day, the day the fighting stopped for good in World War I, November 11th has gradually broadened to become the day on which America remembers and honors all of her veterans - living and dead.

A second holiday, Memorial Day, which started as a day to remember those who died in the Civil War, has also been expanded to become the day when America remembers and honors those who gave their lives in all of the wars we have fought.

While Veterans Day honors all veterans from the Revolutionary War to the present, the focus tends to be on those who have served in recent wars as they and the wars they have fought in are the ones we know most intimately.

Veteran's Day is a day set aside to honor the veterans of America's wars. It was originally known as Armistice Day to commemorate the official ending of hostilities in World War I - which occurred at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.

The next year, 1919, following a call by many to commemorate the first anniversary of the end of the war, ... Click Here to Continue

While not a common custom any more, there is still one home that I know of where a candle glows in the front window waiting to welcome the return of a soldier gone off to war. Oh, it's not the current war or the one before this one or even the one before that one. No, some nine decades ago a mother lit a candle in the window and kissed her son good-by. At that time, in the small rural city known as Canandaigua, nestled in the rolling hills of central New York state where they lived, this was not uncommon and there were probably many candles burning in front windows in Canandaigua and other cities... Click Here to Continue Reading

Each year on Veteran's Day many TV channels broadcast war movies intended to honor the exploits of our veterans. Among those shown is the 1955 movie "To Hell and Back" staring Audie Murphy. Unlike most of the war movies that are shown that day, the hero in "To Hell and Back" is played by himself.

The role movie star Audie Murphy played in front of the cameras in 1955 was the same role that he played as a real combat soldier in North Africa, Italy and France a decade earlier. The big difference was that the first time around the guns were real, there was no script and the ending was not known.

The son of poor Texas cotton farmers with only a grade school education, Audie, like many young men of his generation, was anxious to defend his country. After being rejected by the Marines and the Navy because of his size and youth, he finally convinced the Army... Click Here to Continue Reading

Planes and crews from Davis-Monthan AFB have helped with the nation's air defenses during the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War and now the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While it remains an active and busy Air Force base, there is, just past the entrance gate, an island of tranquility where one can pause and reflect on the men and aircraft who have served so gallantly during the turbulent era of the past half century.

Here, amidst lush green grass and palm trees, is a peaceful desert oasis honoring the men and aircraft who guarded our skies during the wars, both hot and cold, of the past half century.

July 19, 2009

With the death of Henry William Allingham in the early morning hours of July 18, 2009 the number of known surviving veterans of World War I, or the Great War as it is known outside the U.S., has dwindled to four. It is estimated that over 65 million people directly participated in the prosecution of the war in which close to ten million military personnel lost their lives. Large as they are, these numbers do not include the nearly 8 million civilians who died as a result of the war.

At the time of his death, Henry Allingham had lived for 113 years and 42 days making him the oldest living man in the world. He was also the oldest living World War I veteran and currently holds the record as having lived longer than any other known British male in history. Having been born in 1896, Allingham was one of the few to have been alive in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first... Click Here to Continue Reading

Sitting in the center of the dusty little Arizona town of Sacaton is a small park with a monument to its war dead. Little parks with monuments to those from the town who gave their lives in past wars are not uncommon in the small towns of rural America.

As one approaches the park,... Click Here to Continue Reading

So, here is my uncle's account of his Christmas Day in 1918 where, at the age of 24, he found himself in an Army band in France playing the French Horn and attempting to enjoy what he thought was a temporary lull in the war. I have presented it as he wrote it with ... Click Here to Continue Reading