VETERANS

[Odo 0]

On This Day Of Remembrence

LETUS REMBER THOSE WHO HAVE GAVE THERE LIVES.

AND THOSE WHO ARE NOW IN HARMS WAY

GOD BLESS THEM ONE AND ALL

A GREATFULL NATION THANKS YOU

[LoveMalePecs1 0]

And Remember that at 11 A.M we shouldv'e had a minute of silence for those Veterans of the War (American-Canadians)who gave their lives so we could have the freedom we have today.

 

:unsure: :(

[Odo 0]

Can"t belive

no one has responded to this

[A l t e r E g o 9]

You were brave and faced the possibility of death so that we could live Free. Thank you Veterans! Edited November 11, 2004 by Alterego

[Odo 0]

Aleterego

I Thought I Said It But You Nailed It

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Remember, today is Veterans Day. A day to honor those who served and went on to live.

 

There is a day to honor those that gave their lives fighting for this nation, that is in May. It's Memorial Day.

 

Today is a day to celebrate the 25+ Million men and women that are still here and still contributing.

 

Veterans Day, 2004

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

 

Americans live in freedom because of our veterans' courage, dedication to duty, and love of country. On Veterans Day, we honor these brave men and women who have served in our Armed Forces and defended our Nation.

 

Across America, there are more than 25 million veterans. Their ranks include generations of citizens who have risked their lives while serving in military conflicts, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and the war on terror. They have fought for the security of our country and the peace of the world. They have defended our founding ideals, protected the innocent, and liberated the oppressed from tyranny and terror. They have known the hardships and the fears and the tragic losses of war. Our veterans know that in the harshest hours of conflict they serve just and honorable purposes.

 

Through the years, our veterans have returned home from their duties to become active and responsible citizens in their communities, further contributing to the growth and development of our Nation. Their commitment to service inspires all Americans.

 

With respect for and in recognition of the contributions our service men and women have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103(a)) that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal public holiday to honor veterans.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim November 11, 2004, as Veterans Day and urge all Americans to observe November 7 through November 13, 2004, as National Veterans Awareness Week. I urge all Americans to recognize the valor and sacrifice of our veterans through ceremonies and prayers. I call upon Federal, State, and local officials to display the flag of the United States and to encourage and participate in patriotic activities in their communities. I invite civic and fraternal organizations, places of worship, schools, businesses, unions, and the media to support this national observance with commemorative expressions and programs.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-ninth.

 

GEORGE W. BUSH

[Klingonmike 0]

Thank you Tokar. I was proud to have done my duty.

[Odo 0]

You are More Then Welcome Mike.

You did what i wanted to do. They would not take me. Tore a knee in high school.

I do And Will Always RESPECT those who went. They are why we can talk like this. They and you and all who servrd gave us this freedom. And if truth be told what you have seen what you had to do. Can a Nation ever thank you I THINK NOT. All I can say is you have the RESPECT and the Gratiude of one American

[cptwright 1]

my humble thanks to all those who gave, and are giving so that mine, and our freedom shall endure.

[ddillard 2]

I was cooincidentally watching a show about a Verteran that had been denied recognition for his time of duty when I found this. I know that Veterans day has long passed, but I think that it is important that we take time to say thank you to those that have served throughout the year and not to only recognize them once a year.

[Jaz4stfguy 0]

Thanks ddillard! I am considered a veteran for GI benefits and such, and I served overseas during peacetime. But it pales in comparison to those who served during a conflict, especially our men and women currently or previously in Afghanistan and Iraq. My son, Seth, will be going to Iraq, or so he's told, sometime next year. Then for my wife and myself, the war in Iraq will truly have come home.

My hat is off to you, tokar, for starting this thread! :biggrin:

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

A much BELATED THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE RISKED THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR THE LIBERTY OF US ALL!!!

[Takara_Soong 4]

Bumping thread.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

I had a couple of things I wanted to post today, one of which you probably all recognise. the other I got from Military.com, which in tern got the article from Defensewatch.

 

The Soldier

 

It is the soldier, not the reporter,

who has given us freedom of the press.

 

It is the soldier, not the poet,

who has given us freedom of speech.

 

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,

who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

 

It is the soldier, not the lawyer,

who has given us the right to a fair trial.

 

It is the soldier,

who salutes the flag,

who serves under the flag,

and whose coffin is draped by the flag,

who allows the protester to burn the flag.

 

By Charles M. Province

 

From Military,com, November 14, 2003

 

"Who is the American Soldier?"

 

By Jerry Moon

 

As I spent my third consecutive Veterans Day deployed, engaged in combat operations in support of the U.S. Global War On Terrorism, I feel that it is imperative that the American public not forget the men and women, the sons and daughters, husbands and wives, moms and dads and brothers and sisters who are out here, away from the land and people they love and miss so dearly.

 

Many writers have attempted to describe the American soldier. Most have fallen short of an accurate, all-encompassing descriptor for this timeless, instantly recognizable individual. I would like to toss my hat in the ring to attempt a full description of this most intricate and simply indefinable of human beings.

 

The American soldier with whom I serve today has remained largely unchanged from the Revolutionary War to the present day. He or she reflects who we are as a nation - our character, our strength, and of course our resolve.

 

He or she is immediately recognized anywhere, on any ground that he or she treads, stepping off into the night and facing the world as the champion of freedom and democracy.

 

The soldier is an easy-going, good-natured, kind-hearted young man or woman who is prepared to lay down his or her life for an ideal that our national goals are ultimately more important than his or her own individual existence.

 

While the improvements and technological advances to the uniform and equipment continually move forward and evolve, what remains constant is the fact that he or she bleeds on a foreign soil.

 

The soldier still views himself or herself as that same awkward teenaged kid from a small town in the American heartland, say mid-central Illinois. A town which even though fraught with it's own little "bruises and blemishes," is still the home from which he or she hails and speaks of on an all but daily basis to a current comrade in arms, one's closest friend - the "battle buddy."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What the citizens of America sometime forget is that to the oppressed peoples of the world, our soldiers are a symbol of freedom, a bright beacon of hope wielding a shining powerful beam of light into a dimly lit, obscure corner of the world. And while soldiers don't make policies, and certainly do not declare the wars in which they fight, they do bleed and die in the bouts decided by men of a very different breed - the politicians.

 

Many marvel at the mindset of an individual who is willing to give his or her life for anything, and for something that does not seem to directly affect the soldier personally. This is not true. To the American soldier it is personal; in fact, it is extremely personal. He or she is fighting for that which the soldier believes down deep in the heart to be true - that all of mankind deserves to live free. And when death is close, as close as the last fading moments and shortening, hesitant breaths, it is the soldier sharing the foxhole or battle position who reassures the soldier that he or she will have not died in vain.

 

General George Washington once decreed, "When we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen." How insightful he was in this observation. For many former soldiers have now returned home and are the citizens who live next door, the worker standing at the tool and die machine next to you, and the mechanic who services your car at the local Ford dealership.

 

He is the same individual who was stripped of the sheen and innocence of small town America, having volunteered to don the camouflage battle dress uniform, and do the not so glamorous bidding of our nation - her war-fighting.

 

Now, he or she stands beside you, shoulder to shoulder, as both a warrior of the past and an ombudsman of former peers who are still today, fighting and dying in a war some at home do not understand.

 

As I write today, seven great Americans have paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving their fellow man in Iraq. Soon, as dawn breaks over the horizon back home in the United States, you may be setting down to your first cup of coffee, preparing yourself mentally for the tasks before you today.

 

Unfortunately, at the same time somewhere else, a soldier's family is being notified that from this day and all the days after, the morning coffee shall have a different taste; one which shall forever be irreversibly intertwined and etched in their minds along with an event during which their entire life was turned upside down. Forever more, their morning coffee shall be a solace event, a time spent punctuated by one question alone: "Why my soldier?"

 

So, on this most "common" of days, during your routine duties and tasks, please take a moment to reflect on the reasons we are free, and think of the "common" men and women to whom we all owe much gratitude.

 

May you seek out and thank all veterans, from all wars, and remember that each veteran is so much more than an average citizen: He or she is, in a very special way, your own personal savior.

 

And may we never forget that freedom is not free.

 

Capt. Jerry Moon is a U.S. Army officer serving in Iraq. He can be reached at captainmoon03@yahoo.com. ©2003 DefenseWatch. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.

Edited November 11, 2005 by Jim Phaserman

[Yillara Skye 1]

To those who have served or are soon to join the military, thank you :lol:

 

 

 

 

And to the veteran still with me today, and to the one who has passed on... :lol:

My father was in the Coast Guard until he became disabled (he became almost completely deaf in one ear, and partially deaf in the other)

And my grandfather, who passed away at the age of 72 in 1994. He served in the Air Force and saw action in WWII.

Also to my distant relative, though it was not an overseas war... was military nonetheless (U.S. Grant).

[LordOfTheBorg 1]

Thank you veterans, fighting so we can have the world we do now.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

A lot of times people get these holidays confused, Veterans Day is a day to honor the Vets that served honrably yet returned home alive. And remember, not all Veterans fought in a war. Not all veterans even left the country.

 

Memorial Day is a day to honor those that served and were killed in the line of duty.

 

Armed Forces Day is a day to honor the Active Duty, Reserves and National Guard.

 

So to all of the Vets here I give a big thumbs up and pat on the back and I mark myself proud to be a fellow Vet. :lol:

[Jim Phaserman 0]

Yillara, you're related to General Grant? Cool.

[mj 7]

A thanks to all veterans.

 

Last night I was at a cell group meeting, which are small meetings of members of my very large church, where people sing and study the Bible in the home of the group leader or others. People bring their children.

 

After the Bible study we eat.

 

Last night a first grader queried us while we were eating. 'Do you know what Veteran's day is?' he asked. 'Why don't you tell us..' was the response. 'It's to remember people who fight in wars and sometimes they die.'

 

 

While talking earlier before we had begun our lesson, one of the men in the group, who volunteers some of his time in a hospice, was talking about the death of a man who was a Montonyard ( I do not know how to spell this.....). They were either Cambodians and Laotians who had helped the Americans during the Vietnam War. After the war, the US brought many of them to the US rather than leave them to be killed off by the communists. It's good to be remebered for your service, no matter who you are.

[Kor37 9]

They were either Cambodians and Laotians who had helped the Americans during the Vietnam War

 

Even though this is , as usual, rarely reported on, The USA does the same thing with Iraqis that have been of service to the coalition forces. If the Iraqis in question have been exposed or are in danger because they have spied on the insurgents for us, the USA offers them safe haven in the USA if they wish to move here.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

there is one paragraph about them in the History book used for my US History class. and there is no mention that Australian troops were there. I know they were, though, because my uncle was a Corpsmen there (Before you ask, yes, military service is a family tradition) and helped patch up a few.

[Yillara Skye 1]

Yillara, you're related to General Grant? Cool.

Yep, he is my 6th great uncle on my mom's side. My grandmother's maiden name was Grant(she is the one who was married to the WWII vet I mentioned)