“On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.”
President Dwight Eisenhower said this Oct. 8, 1954, prior to the first observance of Veterans Day, a new holiday to honor American soldiers from all conflicts.
While Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, Veterans Day aimed to be a day of celebration.
It was cribbed from Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of World War I, when citizens in Emporia, Kan., decided in 1953 to celebrate all veterans, not just those from World War I. The town’s congressman introduced federal legislation to change Armistice Day nationally the next year.
This is Veterans Day: one holiday to recognize all veterans, which one of America’s greatest wartime generals – as leader of the nation – implored us to use as a promotion for “an enduring peace.”
It seems the American Legion in Portland needs a history lesson.
The Legion has informed the Maine chapter of Veterans for Peace it is unwelcome in the Legion’s upcoming Veterans Day parade. VFP, a national organization, comprises veterans who are aggressive advocates against military conflict.
The issue is political: Iraq. The virulently anti-war VFP drew the Legion’s ire by sponsoring a Legion flag in memoriam of a one-month-old killed in Iraq. The Legion sent the VFP’s sponsorship check back, and then barred it from the parade, citing the VFP’s “past actions.”
The exclusion is now pitting veteran against veteran on the one day all should be celebrated.
For 15 years, the black-clad Maine VFP marched in the Veterans Day parade in Portland with placards and floats. One float had hundreds of white crosses on a black field in remembrance of fallen comrades; this year, in Brunswick, the VFP float showed a Huey helicopter in the skies over My Lai.
War is politicizing. But for veterans organizations to use the Iraq war to make a political statement – the Legion is essentially telling the VFP only pro-war groups are allowed in its parade, stirred by the VFP’s thinly-veiled anti-war message – grossly subverts the founding principles of Veterans Day.
All veterans deserve honor on this day. Why?
For slogging through a frigid North Sea onto the beaches of Normandy. For staring down Nazi Panzer divisions in the Ardenne forest. For defending the 38th parallel in Korea. For walking point through steaming Vietnamese jungles. For fighting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For simply serving their country, whether in war or peace.
Veterans Day honors sacrifice and bravery, not agendas or ideologies. The veterans of VFP have earned their right to speak their mind and march in any parade, and their contributions to this country are equal to any other veteran.
The Legion is just plain wrong. Veterans Day is for all veterans, regardless of politics.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
