<p>With the nation currently engaged in two wars with hundreds of thousands of American troops deployed and the tragic events of the past week at Fort Hood, I kindly ask each of us to take a moment today and remember those who served and those still serving. </p>
<p>Perhaps today may be the proper time to actually show support for our troops beyond putting a yellow ribbon magnet on our bumpers. If you know someone who is serving or has served (a family member, a friend, an acquaintance, whomever), why not give them a call today and simply thank them for serving. A simple gesture, but something that will mean quite a bunch to them. </p>
<p>What you do today really doesn’t matter, the important thing is that you DO something today. Just my two cents…</p>
<p>I always go to our local school, even though my Ds are long past elementary school age, to attend their ceremony. Here, in Canada, we call it Remembrance Day. Earlier this morning, while out walking my dogs, I inadvertently came upon a small remembrance. All of the war memorials in the city have had student cadets standing guard since midnight, and they will remain until the end of formal ceremonies today. At the park in our neighborhood, they were standing guard, and a veteran who was in uniform, and being pushed in a wheelchair, was approaching as I was, to pay our respects. </p>
<p>For the past couple of weeks, in offices and shopping areas, veterans have been selling poppies and it’s rare to see anyone in the city without one on their lapel at this time of year. I know that each year there are fewer and fewer WWII vets who participate. The origin of this tradition is John MacRae’s poem, In Flanders Field. In truly Canadian fashion, on Saturday night between periods of the nationally televised NHL game, the names of each of the 133 Canadians who have been killed in Afghanistan were read on the air, as their photos were scrolled on the screen. All businesses, schools, and even our entire transit system will stop for two minutes of silence today at 11 a.m. Our Prime Minister will be joined by Prince Charles in the ceremony at the National War Memorial. All of our government offices and banks are closed today.</p>
<p>As best as I remember, this used to be called Armistice Day, and is always celebrated on Nov 11 to commemorate the signing of the peact treaty closing WW1. It’s meaning has expanded to now celebrate the sacrifices of those who have served/are serving in our nation’s military</p>
<p>I remember my mother getting a phone call each year on this day from a veteran who had served with her uncle in WWI. My mom’s uncle was killed shortly after the peace treaty was signed - news had not reached the soldiers yet. The WWI veteran was with my great uncle when he died and took the time each year to call my grandmother - and when she passed on to call my mother just to say he hadn’t forgotten - and this was well into the sixties. As a child I learned the impact a simple “I remember” can have.</p>
<p>Every year there is a parade in downtown Dallas that goes on for hours. It always starts with a military flyover that is alarming because the planes come *too close *to our tallest building in Dallas office building - the first Veterans Day after 9/11, folks were afraid we were being attacked.</p>
<p>The week of Veterans’ Day 2001 our law firm had a week long series of events honoring the veterans in the firm. Nothing major - things like an “identify that picture” (using guys’ shaved head age 21 military pictures), cake in a conference room, etc. One of our attorneys who was a Vietnam Vet told the managing partner that that was the first time anyone had ever thanked him or honored him for his service. </p>
<p>Isn’t that terribly sad? In retrospect, the returning Vietnam Vets were treated so shabbily -as if the war was their idea. I think that in general, this time around, we are doing a better job of honoring the soldier, even if we might not agree with the mission.</p>
<p>I just came back from a wonderful rememberance at our local elementary school. It was the first one, organized by the principal, who is an Air Force brat like myself. I cried throughout the whole damn thing. Part of the celebration included relatives in uniform in the audience and a slide show of pictures of the kids’ family members, young and old. Cards our kids sent to Arlington cemetery last year that were placed on graves on Memorial Day so moved a Vietnam vet who saw them that he had a friend serving in Afghanistan send our school a flag that flew there. That was raised today. Very nice.</p>
<p>Thank you, Dad, and Bullet and all our cc veterans and active military.</p>
<p>Michael Palin did an excellent show on Armistice Day in which he tried to track down the last British soldier killed before 11:00 a.m. on the 11th of November 1918. He found the grave and brought the soldier’s children to visit it. They, unfortunately, never knew him.</p>
<p>It was very sad the number of soldiers that were killed the morning of the Armistice.</p>
<p>This is exactly what happened in the U.K. today. We happened to be at Stonehenge at 11AM, and they made an announcement over public address system that everyone honor two minutes of silence. Just outside of Westminster Abbey, there is an erected ‘Field of Remembrance’, thousands and thousands of small wooden crosses and Stars of David, with names written on each one, with a poppy attached. I’ve seen many, many people in London with the red poppies attached to their lapels since I’ve been here. There was a ceremony on Sunday at Whitehall where supposedly the queen laid a wreath at a tomb(?), but I was in Vienna for a few days. But before leaving for Vienna, I was walking around London (down by Trafalgar Square/Buckingham Palace) and accidentally chanced upon the rehearsal by royal military, including the music, marching, etc. (they only omitted the speeches), and got a chance to watch it very close up. It was very cool, and I’m sure I saw much more than if I’d been here on Sunday to see it live.</p>
<p>Another excellent organization worth supporting, which I am a participating member of, is The Soldiers Project – thesoldiersproject.org. This organization offers free psychological services to soldiers and their families in the privacy of the offices of licensed clinicians who donate their services and have received training in the military culture, PTSD, etc. Mental health services are a huge need right now for returning soldiers and their families, and many prefer to receive these services outside of a military setting.</p>
<p>teri, I’m glad that you got to experience Remembrance Day in the UK. IT sounds like their ceremonies are very similar to those here in Canada.</p>
<p>Speaking of organizations that assist those in the armed services, my H attended a fundraising dinner last night here in Toronto for the True Patriot Love Foundation. It raised over $2million to support military families.</p>
<p>I took my dad to the cardiologist today and the young woman who assisted him when he came in asked if he had served in the military. I thought it was so sweet of her. He just beamed and said he thought he looked too young to have been in WWII - actually he is too young. He enlisted at 17.</p>
<p>Such nice stories! Here’s mine. The senior center where I work is closed on federal holidays, but we hold a special luncheon honoring senior veterans on November 10th. Vets receive a free lunch (always their favorite, which is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie), there’s patriotic music, and we recognize each of them by their branch of the service. This year a local collector displayed a huge collection of military memorabilia from WWII, which is the war most of our members served in (though a fair number also served in Korea or during the Cold War, and some Viet Nam vets are seniors now, too!).</p>
<p>It’s so touching and awe-inspiring to see these men, most now well into their 80s, and realize the enormity of the military effort in WW II. They couldn’t be more different in education, profession, or economic class, but there is a real brotherhood about them. Our favorite senior is a Marine who served on Iwo Jima and in several other Pacific campaigns, received two Purple Hearts and all kinds of commendations. He’s very frail now, but he came in wearing his dress cap and oh - was he handsome!</p>