This coming Tuesday, November 11, our nation will celebrate the 107th observance of Veterans Day, a day of solemnity and reverence that honors those who have served in our nation’s military.
Veteran’s Day initially was known as Armistice Day when it was enacted in 1919 to commemorate the first anniversary of the end of World War I, which occurred on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
World War I was marked by trench warfare in which neither side (the German-allied nations of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire vs. the alliance among Great Britain, France, Russia, and the United States) accomplished anything. Historians to this day cannot even pinpoint a rational reason for why the war began.
The trench lines did not meaningfully shift for the entire four-year period of the war. In the meantime, the European continent was ravaged, with 10 million soldiers and another 10 million civilians losing their lives.
More significantly, the “war to end all wars” only set the stage for an even bloodier world-wide conflagration 21 years later with the onset of WWII on September 1, 1939.
Even the roots of today’s conflict in the Middle East can be traced to the shift in control of that part of the world in the aftermath of WWI from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) to England, which eventually led to the so-called British Mandate for Palestine after WWII.
In the aftermath of the Korean War in 1954, Armistice Day officially became known as Veterans Day to recognize all of our nation’s veterans.
There are many ways that each of us can honor our vets, including attending parades and ceremonies in our communities, visiting veterans’ memorials and cemeteries, volunteering with veterans’ organizations, donating to veterans’ causes, flying the U.S. flag, thanking a veteran for their service, or simply taking a moment to reflect on the sacrifices made by so many who have put their lives on the line to ensure that all of us can enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans today.
If nothing else, Veterans Day should remind us that freedom isn’t free and that maintaining our freedom since our nation’s founding has required the personal sacrifice of millions of our fellow Americans.