In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month, the world rejoiced. After four years of bitter war, German and Allied powers signed a cease-fire agreement, bringing World War I to a close. The “war to end all wars” was over. Ninety years later, Nov. 11 has evolved into a national celebration dedicated to the cause of world peace and the remembrance of U.S. veterans who served in the military – in wartime and in peacetime.
Allie's dad here. Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows that my contributions to it are minimal - this is Jocelyn's project. My job is to make sure the computer is working correctly and say swear words when it isn't. However, since today is a national holiday, I wanted to take a minute to ask that everyone remember the tremendous contributions of our veterans and wish them a Happy Veteran's Day. I've always known what Veteran's Day was for, and why we celebrate it, but I don't think I've ever taken the time to actually thank those responsible for protecting my country and preserving my freedom. We had a moving Veteran's Day presentation at work today, and I found myself thanking people I'd never met for their military service. While there's nothing wrong with this, I realized that I've never extended the same gratitude to people in my own family for doing the same thing. So to all the veterans in the extended Hartzog and Schadel family, starting with my dad (Korean War/Army/1952-1954), THANK YOU.
Below is a salute to American veterans and current members of the Armed Forces; the songs are a couple of my favorites.
Here's To the Heroes - The Ten Tenors
Ragged Old Flag - Johnny Cash
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." - John Stuart Mill
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. " - George Orwell
"A veteran, whether active duty, discharged, retired or reserve, is someone who at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of 'up to, and including, his life'" - Unknown
1 comment:
WOW Stacy! I hope you don't mind my sharing this with some other people. This is amazaing. I just attended a meeting of "little old ladies"..of which I guess I am one, too.. The program was a slide presentation of a group from Iola that took WW11 Vets from here, last summer, to see their war memorial in Washington DC last summer. Some had never been on any other airplane beside the one taking them to battle in WW11 and some never had been on one as arrived by sea. 15 of them were in Wheelchairs... anyway.. I am sending this to some that took them and a few of them that have access to this.. God Bless YOU!
Keith's cuz Rhonda
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