Front Page News
November 6, 2013
Veterans’ Day and Robert Frost
Submitted By Richard R. Doucet
“God and the soldier all men adore
In time of need and not before
The danger past and all things righted
God and the soldier:
God is forgotten and the old soldier is slighted”
Robert Frost
This poem was quoted by President John F. Kennedy at the, then, West
Berlin side of the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany on June 26,
1963. He used that poem as an entry to a speech on how our nation
depends on its military to defend the gates of freedom and how the
poem was not justified when thinking of the relationship between the
American public and the military, past and present: in other words
our veterans.
At eleven o’clock on the morning of November 11, 1918: The Eleventh
Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month of 1918 the armistice
went into effect that ended the fighting, but not the war, between
Germany and the other European nations. The surrender of Germany and
the peace treaty would not be signed for several more months.
In 1919 President Woodrow Wilson declared Armistice Day a holiday,
not as celebration of victory over Germany, but as a tribute to the
men and women who died in gaining that victory. Men like the members
of the American 77th (New York) Division’s “Lost Battalion“. Nine
companies of the division were ordered into the Argonne forest in
France to seize and hold a key point. Because supporting attacks on
both flanks failed they were cut off and surrounded but held out for
5 days, from Oct 2 through Oct 7, 1918, against multiple attacks by
overwhelming German odds. When they were finally relieved there
were less than 200 men left alive. Major Whittlesey and two captains
were awarded the Medal of Honor for their courage and leadership in
an action that was credited with helping to bring on the armistice
some five weeks later.
After a number of changes Armistice Day finally became Veteran’s Day
and would for ever be celebrated on Nov 11, no matter what day it
fell on, as a tribute not only to those who fell in the Great War
but now to all the men and women who suffered and died in all our
wars from Lexington Green to the hills of Afghanistan to protect not
only our way of life but help others who were, and are, oppressed:
our friends and allies. And it is this concept, that of honoring
the people not celebrating the victories, that makes us, and our
holiday, very different from other nations and cultures. With the
exception of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) and Victory in Japan Day
(VJ Day), neither of which are federal holidays or even celebrated,
we honor those who did the sacrificing and not try and humiliate the
defeated.
No one could have more eloquently put this precept into words than
President Lincoln did in his speech on Nov. 19, 1863 at the
dedication of the cemetery in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. He talked
about honoring those who fell; not about a great victory over an
enemy. He talked about self-sacrifice not self-service.
Unfortunately, like almost all of our holidays Veterans’ Day, too
many, has become just one more excuse for a paid day off, or to have
a sale of some type. However, a generation ago every family had a
son, father, sister, husband, uncle, or friend who was a veteran.
Armistice day, and now Veterans Day, was a personal thing. Since
the end of the military draft not so many families now are as
closely related to a “veteran” as they were 40 years ago. However,
every veteran is still someone’s son, father, sister, husband,
uncle, or friend and increasingly someone’s wife or mother; in other
words they are real people and above all our neighbors.
Why all the “hubbub”? What makes vets different from police or
firefighters? Certainly no one would ever doubt the courage of all
our first responders. However, one principle separates the military
from all other professions: When anyone joins the military they
take and oath that they will follow all orders even if it leads to
their death. There is no other profession, no matter how dangerous,
where the person joining that profession agrees to die if asked to
do so…and could face criminal charges if they refuse.
Every veteran alive today has taken that oath whether it be for 3
years or 30 years.
No matter your philosophy, religious convictions or lack thereof, or
your political affiliation it is veterans who have been willing to
pay the price for us to be able to express our beliefs freely; not a
lawyer, activist, politician, or community organizer. Without the
over two hundred years of veterans standing up to evil and
oppression the lawyer, the activist and community organizer would
not be free to do what they do.
Even the great Mahatma Gandy, India’s pacifist leader, knew that
though he had gained his country’s independence from Great Britain
in 1949 through non-violence, could not simply disband his military
and hope others would let them live in peace. He understood that the
pen is truly mighty only when it is defended by a strong and moral
sword.
President Theodore Roosevelt once said: “A man who is good enough to
shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square
deal.”
President Roosevelt would, I am sure, considers what the Cavaretta
family, James and Whitney Smith owners of Cavaretta Garden on Route
4 in Northwood, did for veterans as a “square deal”. For the second
time this year they have aided the Northwood VFW drive to help
veterans and their families by donating a portion of their profits
to the VFW. In October they donated at least ten percent of their
October sales.
In view of what the Cavaretta family can do, would it be so
difficult for those in our communities who are responsible for
putting out signs that say the business or public office, such as
town halls and libraries, will be closed on Veterans day to put
“Closed On Nov. 11 in honor of Veterans Day”, or, “We will be closed
on Veterans Day, thank you veterans for your service” instead of
just “Closed on Nov. 11?” I think that President Roosevelt would
consider that a “square deal.”
Not to make such a small gesture towards our neighbors because we
may not share some of the same conviction would certainly amount to
nothing more than being ungrateful and even mean spirited.
Finally, to my brothers and sisters in arms from Vietnam, welcome
home.
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