Post Scripts: Remember Veterans Day

On Nov. 11, our country will honor its veterans as it does each year with parades, ceremonies, speeches and patriotic music. This year in San Marcos where we live, the Grand Marshal of the parade which was held Saturday, was a woman, a retired Navy nurse, Captain Bettye Nagy. Although women have always played an important part in the military life of our country they do not always get the credit that they deserved for their contribution.

Our veteran population is over 23 million. Women and minorities are serving in the military in greater numbers than ever before.

According to figures I got from the Legion Magazine, about 2,600,000, 11% are black. 1,824,000, 8%, are women. There are 5.8% Hispanics, 1.5% Asian/Pacific Islanders, 0.8% American Indians and Alaskans, and others, 0.3%. These numbers are constantly changing but together, they’re about 29% of America’s veterans.

Veterans Day isn’t as widely celebrated as it once was but we must not forget those who served our country in active duty in the armed forces. While those who died always remain prominent in our memories, they have a special time of remembrance and mourning for Memorial Day. Veterans Day is an opportunity to publicly commemorate the contribution of the living veterans.

Across the land the grounds of virtually every state capitol and county courthouse has monuments and memorial plaques honoring those who have served. They date back as far as the American Revolution and as recent as Iraq.

Remembering gives true meaning to sacrifice and service. Millions of American lives have been forever altered because they donned a uniform to protect the freedoms and rights we take for granted. We owe an eternal debt to them and acknowledging Veterans Day is the time that debt comes due.

This year it is especially important that we restore Veterans Day to its rightful place in society. Though the war in Iraq is far from over, we reached a significant milestone with the end of offensive U.S. Operations there. Americans in uniform did the job asked of them, and 50,000 who remain behind will continue to do so.

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have fully joined the cavalcade of America’s veterans who span WW I to the present day.

I am a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, and we are dying off fast. I am still alive and am happy when someone says thanks for my service of four years during WW II and 17 months during the Korean War.