One hundred two years ago, the Principle Allied Powers and Germany agreed that they would stop killing and maiming each other with bullets, bombs and poison gas. At 11:00AM on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918, all was quiet on the
Although the United States was only in the war for 18 months, we lost some 117,000 killed and 295,690 wounded. All in all, more than 16.5 million people died and some 21.2 million people were wounded. I remember our Assistant Coach Mr. Ramsey, a World War I veteran, bore the scars of being burned by mustard gas. All of those Doughboys, as they were called, are gone now but the memory of them lingers on.
This national Remembrance Day, once called Armistice Day, is now known as Veterans’ Day, a day to remember all those who have worn the cloth of our great nation. And today we are still engaged in the longest war in our 244 year history; we struggle to find a way to honorably remove ourselves from a conflict that seems to have no end in sight. Over a million veterans have served since we we began the Global War on Terrorism just over nineteen years ago. I have one grandson in the U.S Navy and a second grandson will join the Navy’s ranks this month. I hope their children and grandchildren children will grow up,in a peaceful world.
This is my 87th Veterans’ Day and I hope folks will take just a moment to remember the millions of young men and women who have served our nation and signed that blank check made payable to all of us and cashed too many times by those brave souls laying down their lives for all of us. President-elect Joe Biden has been ending his speeches with, “ God bless the United States and God bless our troops.” This is my fervent prayer.
