Can we give up this Veteran's Day schlock? Really!!! The holiday is called Armistice Day and the date reflects the formal end of mortar fire in World War One. The 11th hour, the 11th day, the 11th month, 1918. No more, no less.
I grew up with a World War One vet, my paternal grandfather. Yes, the generations were quite spread out. But he never mentioned a word about his time in the army. About eight years ago, I interviewed two World War One vets in the same day at a nursing facility. I would have gotten three, but the third gentleman was comatose. A couple years later I went back and one of the men was still around, aged 103. Still full of memories of his life, which he let me record.
Obviously it's inevitable, but it pains me that the veterans of the Great War are disappearing. It's not only my favourite time in US History, it's also the first war whose final survivors I'm actually noticing as they leave this earth. Nevertheless, they receive(d) little attention because big bad World War II overshadowed their fight.
By the way, when pronouncing "veteran", please use all the letters. It's not "vet'ran". I'd think that people who wish to celebrate a holiday for war and death could pronounce the "V" word. Why no holiday for farmers who feed us or teachers who educate us or doctors who heal us, etc?
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