WHEN WORLD WAR II ENDED in August of 1945, I was 19 years old and a Sergeant in the Marine Corps. I had survived the vagaries of that grueling war and putting my uniform aside went out into the world to make my “fortune” with the millions who served in that effort. What that fortune would be, I had no idea.
That fortune has turned out to be an academic career spanning almost six decades and thousands of published words. All this with only one year of high school and no GED.
What I knew at war’s end was that as a World War II veteran the promises of America strengthened my resolve to confront the challenges of the nation at mid-century. What I also knew was that as a veteran I was part of a legacy of military service stretching back to the foundations of the nation.
On Nov. 10, 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution stating that "two battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces with the fleet. This was the birth of the United States Marine Corps. But that legacy includes services of the other armed forces of the United States as well.
Each year on Nov. 11, the nation celebrates that legacy and commemorates its contribution to the American character. In 2004 the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to name the city of Emporia, Kansas, as the official founding city of Veterans Day. But Veterans Day has a longer history. World War I ended on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 and the day was proclaimed as a day of remembrance in the United States. Thus, Memorial Day on Nov. 11, though originally it was called Decoration Day: a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers, sailors, and marines.
Some sources indicate that Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
In May of 1966, moving Decoration Day from May to November and renaming it Memorial Day, President Lyndon Johnson officially declared Waterloo N.Y. as the official birthplace of Memorial Day. In December of 2000, Congress passed the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution to remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day.
For 85 years until November 2004, when Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day after 1918, was renamed as Veterans Day, the nation celebrated Decoration / Memorial Day as a day of remembrance for the millions of Americans who served in the military. On Jan. 19, 1999, efforts were made to restore Memorial Day back to May 30 instead of “the last Monday in May,” the traditional day of observance of Decoration / Memorial Day. The efforts were unsuccessful.
Since the founding of the nation, some 48 million men and women have served in the U. S. military. More than half are alive today. A small number of World War II veterans are still with us, though they are dying at the rate of about 1,000 a day.
ON VETERANS DAY, in particular, I think about the youth of our nation fighting in brutal climes like Viet Nam. I think about Willie Bains, a companion of my youth who went off to the European Theater during World War II and never came back. We should have grown old together and reveled in conversations about our children and grand-children.
On Veterans Day, especially, I think about the World War I veterans I used to see in my youth on the streets of San Antonio, Chicago, Pittsburgh, hawking for donations paper poppies symbolic of Memorial Day. Inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lt. Colonel John McCrae an MD of the Canadian Army, Moina Michaels initiated the tradition of sporting poppies on Decoration/Memorial Day.
I remember how many veterans of World War I in my youth were without limbs, how many of them were blind, how many of them had grown old be-fore their time, had given up on life and the promises of their country—all this after having given themselves to America.
The nation has not served its veterans well, those who gave their full measure of devotion “to protect and defend.” This is not a panegyric to the nobility of war, for there is little nobility in the ravages of warfare. Veterans Day should be a reminder to all of us that, despite our differences, we should pay homage to our fellow Americans, regardless of color, religion, ethnicity, or gender, who have defended the ramparts of our democracy even though that democracy has at times disdained their service.
Veterans Day is a flitting moment in the enduring cycle of nation-building. We have not yet formed “a more perfect union.” The shining city on the hill still awaits us while the blood of our children is spent on campaigns that remind us of Greek and Roman excursions into foreign lands in formation of empire.
And what of the veterans of those campaigns? Those men and women who have sacrificed (and are sacrificing) so much in pursuit of an imperious chimera whose flight takes (has taken) us into perilous regions. What of their sacrifices? All the sacrifices of our veterans over the life of our nation create a collectivity of patriotism dedicated to the ideals of the nation rather than to the vagaries of its politics. For that reason we should honor our veterans on Veterans Day.
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
--John McCrae
***
Copyright © 2008 by the author. All rights reserved.
Felipe de Ortego y Gasca is scholar in Residence, Western New Mexico University; USMC, 1943-1946 (Platoon Sergeant); USAF, 1953-1962 (Major, USAFR)
George Maple
November 10, 2008
Veterans Day was Armistice Day, it was NEVER Memorial Day. Memorial Day is still in May, although on the wrong day most years.
TetVet68
November 10, 2008
America's oldest living Medal of Honor recipient, living his 100th year is former enlisted Aviation Chief Ordnanceman (ACOM), later wartime commissioned Lieutenant John W. Finn, USN (Ret.). He is also the last surviving Medal of Honor, "The Day of Infamy", Japanese Attack on the Hawaiian Islands, Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, 7 December 1941.
'Navy Centenarian Sailor', 103 year old, former enlisted Aviation Chief Radioman (ACRM, Combat Aircrewman), later wartime commissioned Chief Warrant Officer Julio 'Jay' Ereneta, U. S. Navy (Ret.) is a thirty year career veteran of World War One and World War Two. He first flew aircrewman in August 1922; flew rearseat radioman/gunner in the 1920s/1930s air squadrons of the Navy's first aircraft carriers, USS LANGLEY (CV-1) and USS LEXINGTON (CV-2).
Visit my photo album tribute to these veteran shipmates:
http://news.webshots.com/album/141695570BONFYl
http://news.webshots.com/album/123286873BFAAiq
San Diego, California
DJ
November 10, 2008
Thank you for your service to your country Mr. Ortego y Gasca.
With all due respect, many of the facts in this piece are not accurate with regard to Veterans Day, which is a day to recognize those who have served.
Memorial Day, called Decoration Day for decades, has always been in May and has never been changed with or renamed Veterans Day in November, which was originally called Armistice Day to commemorate the end of hostilities in WWI.
Memorial Day was established to commemorate only Union soldiers and officers that died in the American Civil War. After WWI, it was expanded to those who gave their life in all American conflicts. No wreaths were laid at Confederate graves at Arlington National Cemetery or any other national cemetery until after WWI. Confederates' families have a different day of remembrance, and they still do.
I grew up in the South and we never had Memorial Day when I was a kid. I don't think I ever heard of it until I was in high school in the 1970s. We celebrated Veterans Day with fervor, there being parades and speeches. Of course, my Granddad, a veteran, still called it Armistice Day.
I'm sorry you don't consider our country that "shining city on the hill" like me and many others I know, both native born and immigrant alike. We are far from perfect and have a long way to go I'll agree, yet we have come further than any other society before and serve as an example to nations and oppressed peoples everywhere, due in great part to our Veterans and their service.
KenG
November 15, 2008
TeVet is correct. Veteran's Day honored those who served. Memorial Day honors not only those who served but gave the untimate sacrifice.
The VA is supposed to provide for those who have served and were injured. This was perverted during the Clinton Administration to offer VA medical service to anyone who served a minimum of six months and who wasn't dishonorably discharged. This overloaded the system. An income component was added. Someone living under a bridge was considered 'needy' and somehow 'earned' more medical benefits than someone who served honorably and sustained military related injuries or conditions. Being 'needy' has become the new standard for receiving medical care. The push for 'universal health care' will further reduce veterans' and retirees' benefits. We don't really need benefits we gave a lifetime of service for. Need is a higher virtue than service.