Veterans Day

Veterans Day

Once known as "Armistice Day" (until 1954) this federal holiday originally honored those American soldiers who fought alongside the French and British armies against Imperial Germany under Kaiser Whilhelm.
John Morgan's own comment on these WWI soldiers and so many others who would come for a long time after truly does honor them all:
"...for which they had no part in demanding but served nonetheless."
Two of my oldest uncles served in WWI.
Dave came through with few physical scars and even ran a small downtown business...yet each evening after closing up his shop he would go back to his real home in the Veterans Hospital to be "back with his buddies."
My uncle Dave (like so many other combat vets of that time) had become "institutionalized."  
And yet, Dave was among the lucky ones.
My uncle Bill...whom I never knew, was part of an U.S. infantry unit under attack by German heavy artillery.
Bill died in 1933 three days short of his thirty-fourth birthday.
As a child, I was told by my 90 year-old grandmother that her son, at the age of 19, had been buried alive by an artillery barrage and for many years after would be buried by that same WWI artillery attack, inflicting the same terror upon her Bill again and again in the middle of the night while his screams woke a mother from her sleep to come and take hold of her grown son.
In remembering my uncles, I am forced to recall much more recent events and in particular, a former vice president, who now savages the current president for "dawdling" on sending more troops to Afghanistan.
Is this not the same guy who as a draft age youth, managed five...THAT'S F-I-V-E DEFERMENTS to keep his precious ass out of Vietnam and alongside one-half million other brave American soldiers?
"...for which they had no part in demanding but served nonetheless."?
Matt Thomas

---

by: Matt Thomas @ Wed Nov 11, 2009 at 22:02:09 PM CST

yea, that Clinton was a piece of work...

Oh wait, you said VICE PRESIDENT...i thought you said President who avoided the draft by lying to Colonel Holmes about his intent on joining the ROTC and keeping his precious ass out of Vietnam and along side one half million other brave american soldiers (matt thomas).  And how he wrote about how someone could come to 'loathe the military' (bill clinton)

a copy of this great swindle is availble here...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/...

And since you are SUCH a centrist, i just know that your next post was going to be about how upset you are that, since you come from a family of dedicated military men...that barry hussein became the first president in 56 years to skip the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball, which recognizes Medal of Honor receipents, the highest military award given.  Which means that bill clinton, who loathed the military still showed up and barry hussein, who was doing blow around the time of vietnam veterans were dying in mass, didnt bother.

That was coming, right matt? your criticism of clinton and barry on this, Veteran's Day?  After, all, being a centrist means you find fault with BOTH sides.  Right, matt?  clinton avoided the draft and that should draw your ire...right Matt?  Matt?  Hello?  Hello?

yea...centrist. snicker.

have a great day :)

---

by: tylerderbun @ Wed Nov 11, 2009 at 22:32:00 PM CST

draft dodgers

In fairness, it should be mentioned that while Bill Clinton did indeed dodge the draft, he at least was against American involvement in Vietnam and he didn't want other Americans to go. Bush and Cheney consistently supported the Vietnam War...until it was their turn to go then, they pulled strings to get put of it. There is no way to know this, but I wonder what were the names of the men who were sent to Vietnam in their place, and by chance are those names on the  Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? Speaking as a veteran turned Quaker anti-war advocate I can assure you that I personally have more respect for anti-war non-veterans than I do for pro-war non-veterans, which are known by another name: chickenhawk. For the record I didn't vote for either Clinton or Bush/Cheney.

---

by: jimkeller2316 @ Wed Nov 11, 2009 at 22:55:29 PM CST

ah the cry of the chickenhawk...

so in otherwords...if they didnt serve in the armed forces, they cant be in favor of a war.  which would make clinton a chickenhawk since he sent troops to Bosnia...including his wife who  shot at by snipers  :)

have a great day :)

---

by: tylerderbun @ Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 07:20:04 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Bringing up

issues of politicians who avoided serving in this thread honoring all those who did is disgraceful to their service.

Follow me on Twitter:  JohnPMorgan

---

by: John Morgan @ Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 10:12:10 AM CST

[ Parent ]

matt started it!

:)

agreed with you though, so i will cease.

have a great day :)

---

by: tylerderbun @ Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 10:29:38 AM CST

[ Parent ]

RE: ah the cry of the chickenhawk...

Anybody is entitled to have any opinion on any subject for any reason, of course, and this includes non-veterans having a pro-war opinion. However, those folks who have consistently supported war but who have made no effort to enlist or who went to great lengths to avoid mandatory military service during the Vietnam era deserve a certain level of scorn. Circa 2004 I worked with one fellow, about 25, very fit-looking and athletic, who thought that the United States was not only right to have invaded Iraq but he also thought that we should have invaded Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan. When asked about his plans to enlist he claimed he had an 'old high school football injury,' an injury that didn't seem to have prevented him from playing rugby every weekend. Another coworker of mine--one of those 'if you don't support the war in Iraq you support terrorism and are unpatriotic' types--had three military-ages sons, none of whom were in the military, and when asked by another coworker if they were going to enlist she actually burst out laughing at the notion. Also note that veterans, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, pro-war or anti-war, they are pretty much united in their hatred of chickenhawks. What does that tell you? If we are going to escalate military operations in Afghanistan while maintaining troop levels in Iraq as some conservatives want we are going to have to bring back the military draft and even though I'm philosophically against conscription part of me hopes that we do just to see what will happen.  

---

by: jimkeller2316 @ Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 11:36:02 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Commemorating Veteran's Day

Commemorating Veteran's Day is just right in giving honor to the old ones who fought for our freedom regardless of keeping safe their self. There are still alive veterans nowadays and they deserve to be respected because of the heroism they have shown for our country. Sometimes, we cannot avoid of having unexpected expense because aged people are prone to any illnesses and that unexpected expense nay wreck our budget. So if you need some money now because of a sudden expense, you could try looking into getting some cash today by way of a payday loan from a payday loan lender.  

---

by: zyrajack @ Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 04:47:16 AM CST

a piece of work...

No one here is giving Clinton any credit for avoiding the draft and possible service in Vietnam, while Obama is a non-issue here since he, along with many millions of others in recent years, was never subject to any draft.
Obama missed the ball to honor those awarded with the CMH...but then was he not at Dover to be with the families and their fallen soldiers...something your "W" somehow never found the time to do?
The core issue which you obviously missed (any suprise there?) is about one of your own heros who, himself, avoided military service...yet now, some 40 years later courageously beats his little drum for sending 40,000 more U.S. soldiers into harms way in Afghanistan.
Surely there are few things more dispeakable than a loud-mouth old man calling on the president to speed up sending young men and women to go out and die when he himself refused to serve.
Yeah...he surely is a piece of work.
Matt Thomas

---

by: Matt Thomas @ Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 07:29:02 AM CST

any surprise HERE

that you, johnny centrist, got snookered by a photo op?

nah...not YOU...you call 'em right down the middle.

http://www.mudvillegazette.com...

The images and the sentiment of the president's five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste.

    side note, 14 of the 15 families decline letting barry used their fallen family member a prop

as for Bush...he didnt have to do a photo op to PRETEND he cared...
http://washingtontimes.com/new...

have a great day...barry butt kisser.  

---

by: tylerderbun @ Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 09:47:26 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Bush didn't honor

any of the fallen as President.  He never went to Dover and he never attended a funeral even though he was the principle who sent them to their deaths/

Follow me on Twitter:  JohnPMorgan

---

by: John Morgan @ Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 10:14:05 AM CST

[ Parent ]