Honoring Our Veterans
[guest post by Dana]
As today is Veterans Day, I want to say thank-you to all of those who have served to protect our country and our freedoms. And as a number of commenters here at Patterico’s are veterans, a special thank-you. Anything else I would like to say would sound trite, so let me just echo the vast majority of Americans: there is no more worthy and honorable calling than to serve in our military. We are so grateful.
I am from a family where a number relatives have served in various branches throughout the years, and next week I will have the immense pleasure of watching my own son graduate from boot camp (USMC). Joining me will be my my octogenarian father, who ages ago served with the Marines in Korea. So, as yesterday was the 239th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps and today is Veterans Day, a simple yet very heartfelt “thank-you” for your service to our country.
For any vets out there, a number of restaurants nation-wide would like you to be their guests today.
Also, if you would like to watch an amazing film of veterans welcoming deployed soldiers back home, check out the eloquent documentary, “The Way We Get By”.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (8e74ce) — 11/11/2014 @ 8:39 amHello, Dana. Congratulations to your son.
nk (dbc370) — 11/11/2014 @ 8:47 amGreetings:
One of my favorite sentiments for Veterans’ Day comes from none other than The Rolling Stoners” who gave us, in one of their more lucid moments::
“Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
11B40 (844d04) — 11/11/2014 @ 8:55 amSpare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth”
The Best of the Best.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 11/11/2014 @ 8:55 amThank you soldiers.
mg (3ecb6c) — 11/11/2014 @ 9:36 amYou’re welcome; it was an honor and a privilege to have served.
Dana — congratulations to you and your son, from one who is
htom (9b625a) — 11/11/2014 @ 9:58 amNot so lean,
Still bleeds green;
Just as mean,
and still Marine!
I had the pleasure of taking my daughter and her cousins to Normandy a few years ago. One of our stops was the American cemetery at Omaha Beach. If you drive around the area behind the landing beaches, you will see many roadside placards erected by the French to commemorate a soldier killed there. Most were engineers, probably clearing mines.
She’s my youngest and I quiz her every once in a while to make sure she doesn’t sound as dumb as these students. She is probably more conservative than I am.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 11/11/2014 @ 10:05 amI hope you have been following the “poppies” tribute in Britain. They still call today “Armistice Day” there. The photos are breathtaking and the crowds going to see it in person have been large. There is a poppy for each of the British and Colonial soldiers killed in WWI. That’s 888,246 of them.
In due time the ceramic poppies from the installation will be individually sold and the proceeds used toward care and charities for today’s living soldiers.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/07/world/europe/tower-of-london-poppies/index.html?hpt=wo_c2
elissa (16d100) — 11/11/2014 @ 10:12 amThanks for sharing that, Mike K.
elissa (16d100) — 11/11/2014 @ 10:22 amDana,
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 11/11/2014 @ 10:52 amThank you and your family for all your service and sacrifice. And thank you for linking “The Way We Get By.” I didn’t know there were volunteers doing that.
The best way to honor veterans is don’t make anymore. Memorial day should be about the past not the future.
where have all the flowers gone? (648026) — 11/11/2014 @ 11:27 am“They still call today “Armistice Day” there. ”
Actually, it is called Remembrance Day and I was lucky enough to be invited, along with my middle daughter, to sit with the Royal Army Medical Corps beneath their window in Westminster. The Queen was outside placing flowers on the The Cenotaph outside. This year she did that on Sunday but, when we were there, it was the same day.
World War I is the great tragedy for Britain that began their decline. Europe committed suicide then. Dying has taken 100 years but it is still going on.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 11/11/2014 @ 11:47 amYes. Thank you for your service! We will try to deserve our freedom.
felipe (40f0f0) — 11/11/2014 @ 12:05 pmI flew back from Canada last week, and had to explain the poppy in my lapel to a few people. John McCrae was a Canadian poet, FYI.
carlitos (c24ed5) — 11/11/2014 @ 12:26 pmI wish I had seen the free meal offer sooner. I would have gone the a participating restaurant and paid for my meal even though I am a vet so that the restaurant would get a pay-back or pay-forward.
Dave (f5fb18) — 11/11/2014 @ 5:45 pmMemorial Day is about the past. Today if Veteran’s Day.
Do you work for ISIS? Trying to win without fighting, senor flowers?
The best way to honor veterans is quit buying into the delusion that we start all the wars, and that the wars that are forced upon us are somehow optional.
Steve57 (c1c90e) — 11/11/2014 @ 9:44 pmToday
ifis Veteran’s Day.Seriously, if you want to honor veterans then as a country we need to stop being infantile about the nature of the world we live in.
I believe most of the people who post here have. Most of them.
Steve57 (c1c90e) — 11/11/2014 @ 9:46 pmThank you, Dana.
Simon Jester (1a55d1) — 11/11/2014 @ 10:26 pmThe folks featured in the video are the “Pease Greeters” (http://www.peasegreeters.org/).
I have flown through Bangor three times during leave or returning from my deployments. The reception they provide is simply amazing. I still have a hand-made knit cap that EVERY SINGLE ONE of the guys on my plane got.
Simply amazing people, so dedicated. I can only wish that there were more Americans dedicated to Patriotism in all forms.
I am one Soldier who will never forget the service they provided me.
Robert C. J. Parry (cdd6a8) — 11/12/2014 @ 12:40 amI am impressed with you and your family, Dana. Thank you.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 11/12/2014 @ 6:13 pm