On Monday, November 11, I will have the pleasure of speaking about Veterans Day to groups of veterans and their families at two senior facilities in Southern California.
They’ve invited me to thank their veterans for their service and remind them of the significance of Veterans Day. After introducing myself and my family, I’ll share a little about my 22-year United States Air Force career. Next, I’ll place today’s military in context with the armed services of yesterday and the one in which they so honorably served. I’ll conclude my remarks with a brief history of Veterans Day and some of the challenges and changes it has endured over the years.
I aim to conclude this background and context as quickly as possible. My real intent is to have a quiet conversation with the veterans gathered. I want to learn their stories and hear from their spouses, loved ones, and friends.
No one, and certainly not me, can adequately thank them for their service. A ten percent discount at Home Depot just doesn’t cut it.
What I can do, and all of us can do, is listen to their stories, learn where they came from, the people they’ve inspired, and the legacy they leave to all of us.
To read my material and the closing thoughts I’ll save for myself, click here>>
Today’s Military is Nothing Like Yesterday’s Military
- 3 million Americans are on Active Duty
- This is the Smallest Number of Troops Since the End of WWII
- 41% Fewer than in 1987
- Active Duty Servicemembers are less than 1% of All Adults
- Almost 20% of Servicemembers are Female
Our Veterans Population is Going Down
- Today, 18.3 million Americans are Veterans
- By 2048, There Will be Only 12.1 million
- Since 2010, We’ve lost 5.5 million
- Veterans are 6% of America’s Adult Population
Nobody Serves Alone
- For Every Servicemember, there are 1.2 Family Members
- Almost Half of All Servicemembers are Married
History of Veterans Day
President Woodrow Wilson – November 11, 1919
To us in America the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service, and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations.
Veterans Day – Did You Know?
1954 – Armistice was replaced with the word Veterans to Honor the Servicemembers from WWII and Korea.
1968 – The Uniform Holiday Bill was signed and intended to ensure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day.
1975—Public Law 94-97 returned Veterans Day to its original date of November 11.
My concluding thoughts
In 1968, Congress made a huge mistake in thinking they could preserve Veterans Day’s significance by moving it to a Monday and creating a three-day weekend. They thought that the chance of a BBQ with hot dogs and beer would be equivalent to solemn reflection and memorial services.
Thankfully, everyday citizens and veteran organizations across the country voiced their objections. In 1975, Congress restored Veterans Day to honor the original Armistice Day of November 11, 1919, no matter what day of the week it happens to fall.
. . .and the thoughts I’ll keep to myself
The American people and our elected officials often make horrible mistakes. These mistakes make democracy both a blessing and a curse. America has endured much over the years: slavery, a civil war, a depression, two World Wars, and protracted wars in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan. We’ve suffered through the worst pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu. We witnessed foreign terrorists ram planes into the Twin Towers. And then, just twenty years later, we watched as an enemy from within sent hordes of MAGA bigots to attack our Capital.
However, America is much more than the summation of our mistakes. We are also a country that has rejected tyranny and fought for independence. We established fundamental human rights, rejected slavery, survived wars, and rebuilt Europe and Japan. We fought our way out of a Great Depression in which 1 in 4 were unemployed and thrown into poverty. We invented the vaccine that cured polio. We invented the airplane and put a man on the moon. We ended the Cold War and never fired a shot.
In Boston Harbor during the War of 1812, the USS Chesapeake engaged in battle against the HMS Shannon. The British ship quickly disabled the Chesapeake, and its commander, Captain James Lawrence, was mortally wounded by small arms fire. With British boarding parties swarming the deck, his men carried their captain below. He ordered his officers, “Don’t give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks. Tell the men to fire faster! Don’t give up the ship.”
The ship of democracy is a hearty and seaworthy vessel. On Monday, November 11, 2024 – this Veterans Day, may this quote guide us as we move forward.
“Don’t give up the ship.”
Thank you for your service and sharing words of encouragement. Don’t give up the ship!
Keep the faith.
After listening to our Veterans and their families, maybe you can write and publish
their stories in one of your blogs.
Thank you. I hope to.
Worst writing I have ever read. Truth is an authors only source, to assume the writings of today’s so called mainstream journalists are accurate and then to copy them is like an artist who takes a picture of another artists work and claims it as his own. To imply a horde of Maga bigots stormed the Capital is not the truth. Maybe some investigation would have been warranted instead of emotions, a shame you have fallen for the propaganda liberal storyline. I am confident you can get away with telling your story in California, or Illinois. I hope it doesn’t get out too the other parts of America. Sad indeed…
I’m schedule to go on a book tour across the country in the spring.