Veterans Day 2009

Another Veteran’s Day has come and gone. We witnessed the usual celebrations, photo-ops for the politicians, and slanted coverage by the media. I believe one of the reasons for the poor support of veterans is that so few officials in Washington these days have served in our armed forces. A generation or two ago, most members of congress had served in a branch of our military. Now, both the house and senate are made up of career politicians in which only a small percentage have served their country in a military capacity. I’m certainly not suggesting that we need more senators like John Kerry or John Murtha, but as a whole, I’d like to see more veterans enter politics.

That said, this day is not about those who pretend to support our troops during election season, or when the cameras are rolling, but about the dedicated troops themselves, to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy in our country today.

For those unfamiliar with the history of this holiday, we offer this brief summary. World War I combat between the Allies and Germany ended with an armistice which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 (the war officially ended on June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles). Thus, November 11 became officially known as Armistice Day in 1926 and became a national holiday in 1938.

Read the entire Veterans Day 2009 article.