A Tribute To Our Veterans

By Joe Christopher

Who would have an inkling of a thought that as we approach Veterans Day 2001 that we would again be embroiled in an armed conflict with a foreign government if one agrees that the Taliban constitutes a government. As I write this article we are engaged, along with our closest allies, in a conflict unlike any this country has ever faced. We are now assembling a whole new class of Veterans of Foreign Wars. Godspeed to these heroic 21st Century warriors. It is worthy of note that the year 2001 is also the sixtieth anniversary of our entry into WWII and the fiftieth anniversary of the Korean Conflict.

Veterans Day was originally proclaimed “Armistice Day” in 1919 to commemorate the end of the 1st World War on November 11th 1918 at 11 AM. The purpose of marking the day was to honor all of those, living and dead, who served with the U.S. armed forces in wartime. A Federal Act was adopted in May of 1938 declaring November 11th a legal holiday to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as Armistice Day.

Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen in the Nation’s history and after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, Congress amended the Act of 1938 by striking the word “Armistice” and inserted the word “Veterans” and thus November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

On October 30th 2001, President Bush declared the week of November 11 through November 17th as National Veterans Awareness Week. Now that the President has declared this week of remembrance it is appropriate to ask who these veterans are.

It might have been the kid next door, your brother, your father, your sister, your classmate or your friend. They were soda jerks, janitors, executives or students. They were drafted or they volunteered but nonetheless they responded. They fought at Pearl Harbor, Midway, Okinawa, the Philippines, Europe, Korea, Vietnam and beyond.

They fought our enemies on foreign shores, at sea and in the air to preserve our freedom. They had no second thoughts as to what had to be done. We can never thank them enough for the sacrifices they made even unto death. Our freedom we owe to each of them.

In St George, Lee Warren (a Pearl Harbor survivor), Clyde Nielsen and their “Over the Hill Gang” have worked diligently to erect, with the assistance of some wonderful philanthropic citizens, a memorial to all veterans in the new Tonaquint Cemetery and another local couple, Sammy and Pat Irvin, funded the erection of a veterans memorial at the Dixie Elk’s Lodge. I challenge each of you who read this article to take a few minutes of your time and go to the Elk’s parking lot or the Tonaquint Cemetery, sit on the bench at the memorial, and feel the presence of the millions of men and women who have served and died or were fortunate to have survived. It is an emotional high that, as the old saying goes, “you just had to be there”. When I sit at the memorials I feel the presence of my late father and I smile as I recall the stories we heard after he returned from the WWII conflict.

I thank God for the veterans and the sacrifices they have made in our behalf. GOD BLESS AMERICA and her sons and daughters.