Veterans Day, Armistice Day
[NOTE: This is a repeat of a previous post.]
Yes, indeed, I am that old—old enough to just barely remember when Veterans Day was called Armistice Day. The change in names occurred in 1954, when I was very small, in order to accommodate World War II and its veterans.
Since then, the original name has largely fallen out of use—although it remains, like a vestigial organ, in the timing of the holiday, November 11th, which commemorates the day the WWI armistice was signed (eleventh hour, eleventh day, eleventh month).
I’m also old enough – and had a teacher ancient enough – to have been forced to memorize that old chestnut “In Flanders Fields” in fifth grade – although without being given much historical context for it, I think at the time I assumed it was about World War II, since as far as I knew that was the only real war.
You can find the story of the poem here [well, you could when the post was first written, but the link is dead now]. It was written by a Canadian doctor who served in the European theater. It’s not necessarily great poetry, but it was great propaganda to encourage America’s entry into what was known at the time as the Great War.
The poem’s first line “In Flanders fields the poppies blow” introduces that famous flower that later became the symbol of Armistice – and later, Veterans—Day. Why the poppy?
Wild poppies flower when other plants in their direct neighbourhood are dead. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, but only when there are no more competing flowers or shrubs in the vicinity (for instance when someone firmly roots up the ground), these seeds will sprout.
There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him bloodred poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before.
But in this poem the poppy plays one more role. The poppy is known as a symbol of sleep. The last line We shall not sleep, though poppies grow / In Flanders fields might point to this fact. Some kinds of poppies are used to derive opium from, from which morphine is made. Morphine is one of the strongest painkillers and was often used to put a wounded soldier to sleep. Sometimes medical doctors used it in a higher dose to put the incurable wounded out of their misery.
Now a day to honor those who have served in our wars, Veterans Day has an interesting history in its original Armistice Day incarnation. It was actually established as a day dedicated to world peace, back in the early post-WWI year of 1926, when it was still possible to believe that WWI had been the war fought to end all wars.
The original proclamation establishing Armistice Day as a holiday read as follows:
Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and
Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and
Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.
After the carnage of World War II, of course, the earlier hope that peaceful relations among nations would not be severed had long been extinguished. By the time I was a young child, a weary nation sought to honor those who had fought in all of its wars in order to secure the peace that followed – even if each peace was only a temporary one.
And isn’t an armistice a strange (although understandable) sort of hybrid, after all; a decision to lay down arms without anything really having been resolved? Think about the recent wars that have ended through armistice: WWI, which segued almost inexorably into WWII; the 1948 war following the partition of Palestine; the Korean War; and the Gulf War. All of these conflicts exploded again into violence – or have continually threatened to – ever since.
So this Veterans/Armistice Day, let’s join in saluting and honoring those who have fought for our country. The hope that some day war will not be necessary is a laudable one – and those who fight wars hold it, too. But that day has clearly not yet arrived – and, realistically but sadly, most likely it never will.
[NOTE: I’ve scheduled this post to be published at 11:11 AM on 11/11.]
My good friend is a veteran. Air Force. He was a loadmaster on C-130s through the last 25 years. He confirms that Churchill was right, that the greatest exhilaration is to be shot at without result.
On Veterans Day, I text him “Thanks.” He usually sends back “My pleasure.”
Nothing mawkish. Nothing overwrought. He knows the respect I have for him.
Sad to see the recent videos of 100 year WWII combatants who are crying and realizing that due to the direction we went after the war, that their sacrifice and dead friends and more was a waste. James Bond and cultureal things like the four olds have to go, not because we like them, but because they show what was worth fighting for that has to go too. once there is nothing to fight for, then there is no reason to fight and no reason to be free. not that anyone cares about such things and will focus on whats productive about it.
if i told you when i started here so long ago a real communist would be elected to nyc mayor, not a socialist but a seize the means of production in their speeches in the past, sharia wanting mayor… no one would have believed me, their optimism would prevent them from accepting the warnings.. which is what happened, they did pish tosh.
they do not realize the pickle that is coming real soon. like a tidal wave or meteorite and its beyond the event horizon to act on it. we have crossed the rubicon of our destruction and there is no way to do anything about it. nothing, nada zero zed
this was released 21 hours ago and already has over 2 million views
This is the Greatest Problem Facing the World Right Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BXcIdqFwPE
this is why the old timers who are almost no more cry…
they get it.. we refuse to even acknowledge the basic math of it
we can even ask AI basic questions to get good answers that are neutered of any excuse by claiming thats just the nutty guy. but as i warned of the mamdani and many other things that were not mainstream… not being examined and not being turned into mainstream ideas or even on the radar.
lets ask a few questions of AI so that you dont think its just my facts
this begs the question from the Armistice. what did we bother to fight FOR?
thats interesting..
if the facts are that only 5% of women don’t want children, but more than 30% have that situation without the desire to be, what does that mean mathematically for the future?
i gather that this is why the remaining soldiers from WWII are crying that their efforts and sacrifices in the war were for naught
i am gathering that this is happening and they are realizing because from their vantage point their cohorts are gone, and they are forced to look at what remains and what has happened in a way they didnt do 30 years ago
lets turn a bit towards economics.. the united states is 37 million in debt, but it appears if you do the math and the math is solid, there will be no way to recover from that once the baby boomers and their echo dies out.. as now their echo is about to enter retirement… given ideology of gender hate, even if the young were told of this, they could not turn their ideas around, they are stuck with the ideas that no one changed for them 20 or 30 years ago
so all the people who spend their time discussing a future, wasted it becuse they did nothing to change this issue that would allow for the future they were talking about to actually happen. that the future and worries were wasted time, they are never going to pass that way because the people needed to make any of that happen wont be here to do so. like Nero of literature, they were sitting around enjoying what felt like intelligent discourse, while the foundations of their ideas and meaning were burning to the ground around them unseen because they did not want to face the issue.
so like the idea of a tidal wave, or a meteorite, or nuclear war, they wasted the time that could have changed things, waiting for the time where nothing can change. sooner or later they are forced to dine at a table laden with the consequences of their actions and inactions, and will instead believe that they had no part in the play and the outcome
given what we have discussed and what will happen that cant change, is there anything that you would like to tell this cohort. anything interesting or informative, or literally anything they should be made aware of?
I am filled with great sadness that i could not influence them at all to take this seriously. that i failed to somehow breach the bastions of their discourse, and get them to be aware of the thing that is coming, that we cant stop. and you can confirm that this cant stop, that short of forced procreation and training this probably cant be slowed any more… what was potentially possible 20 years ago, when i started and noticed it, is something that there just isnt time to act. if they didnt go for high ground hours ago, they wont get to it now even if they leave.
So what is coming that they should know about and they should prepare the youngers of their home to do well later and not do poorly. that they should put aside the silly talk of a world that will never be and start contemplating the very quickly approaching world that will be and prepare those who will be young and alive to deal with it
So this armistice day….
my warnings could hve spread like a virus through talking with them and they in turn being so much farther away and outside my reach, spread it, that something might have changed… if that would have happened could the outcome been somewhat delayed or mitigated? yet instead they decided to discuss what will never be rather than what to do to insure it is.
and thats why i stopped discussion. it became apparant that i was wasting my time telling them their house was on fire, and that if i sat and jibber jawed with them, it was pointless. could you somehow express to them why this would stop someone from discussing things for no reason that cant ever happen if they wanted to live in a productive positive way. explain to them why i had to go, as i have never liked being irrelevant even if others only think otherwise.
sorry to all that i could not stay for the party on the titanic..
sorry i could not delude myself enough to enjoy the conversation any more
good luck to all…
i hope that this discussion with AI which would protest if i said anything that was not true by correcting me, has reached a few of you to realize that whatever ideas you have now, will be swept away by these other overwhelming forces.
in my own way, i did love you all
Artfldgr, we love you too. You’re correct about the stealthy invasion of this country by communist forces.
But that’s not the main issue today. The main issue is that for over 250 years citizens have been volunteering to serve in our military to defend our freedoms.
On this day I thank my fellow veterans and tell those who are kind enough to thank me that it was my honor to serve. This country is still worth defending.
War has a mind of it’s own.
Neo:
A better poem to remember the horror and suffering of that terrible First World War is this:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est
My grandfather fought in WW1 but never suffered a gas attack from “the Huns” (as he referred to them). He was wounded multiple times, but the worst was his knee. He spent the rest of his life literally picking out what he called, “the Kaiser’s steel” as bits of shrapnel would emerge through the skin in later years. He was shipped home but it wasn’t the wound or gangrene that nearly killed him, it was the flu that he caught on the hospital ship. In my memory he’s the tough old man who taught me how to shoot, hunt, and fish, but most importantly to be respectful of my elders.
He passed peacefully in his sleep at 89 years old, and the flag that I’m flying today is mostly a salute to him. Thanks, Gramps.
To J.J., and all other veterans here: Thank you.
There are still areas in France today that are off limits because of unexploded ordinance from WWI.
Hard to believe considering that WWI ended over 107 years ago.
“in fifth grade … I think at the time I assumed it was about World War II, since as far as I knew that was the only real war.”
I’m surprised, neo. I am younger than you, though not by much. But I cannot remember a time when I was not aware of both wars, certainly by 5th grade. I’m old enough to remember when the holiday was still sometimes called “Armistice Day” and why.
FOAF::
You misunderstand what I was trying to say.
In the post I mention that it was called “Armistice Day” when I was little. I certainly knew there had been a WWI and WWII – after all, how could there be a two without a one? Duh.
However, to me WWII was the only real war – accent on the REAL. It was quite recent when I was born, there were tons of WWII movies on the TV, and I heard about it a great deal (not in school, but in life). I immediately assumed the poem was about WWII because I wasn’t explicitly informed it was WWI. After all, the US also came into WWII late, as far as much of Europe was concerned.
Also please see this post for how I learned more about WWI.
I was reading another blog which talked about “The Best Years of Our Lives” and how emotional he became during more than one scene even after many viewings. I wish this movie was promoted more than it is during Veterans Day and Memorial Day. It is truly a classic. It dramatizes what they went through AFTER the fighting was over.
J.J.:
Thank you for your service!
I have been to the Aid Station where the Doctor served. And too Flanders Field and all the others. Visted all the huge Cemeteries. Too me, the Poem has meaning.
I am a US Navy vet.
To my fellow Vets, all who served I say – Welcome Home
To J. J., SHIREHOME, and all the other veterans reading this: thank you for your service to our country!
Happy Veterans Day to all Vets of all services and to those who love them.
My Dad and Mom were both WW II Vets. Dad also served two tours of duty in the Korean War. Mom took my brother and me to Seattle to see off the troopship on which he and other soldiers left for Pusan in 1950. He returned home safely in 1953 after his second tour. He came to my schoolyard gate in his dress uniform when I was on the playground during recess in 3rd grade. I ran to see him. Was so happy.
Some trace the use of poppies as flowers to honor those who died in service, back to the Napoleonic era, when poppies were found growing around the bodies of French soldiers in mass graves who perished during the invasion of Russia. But that’s a discussion for Memorial Day. Today let us honor the living.
Me? I was a mere draftee in the 60’s who served in Germany. Was there when the Soviets and other Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” during which the Czechs almost voted themselves free of totalitarian communism.
Thanks for this repost Neo.
Suggestions that the West’s decline in birth rates will lead to humanity’s extinction is ‘fear porn’. Evidenced by the fact that,
“Humanity’s near-extinction event occurred approximately 930,000 to 813,000 years ago, when the breeding population of our ancestors was reduced to a mere 1,280 individuals, representing a 98.7% population collapse.”
So approx. 1,280 individuals, living up until 100-200 yrs ago in medical ignorance, eventually increased to 8 Billion.
Our declining birth rate is cultural not biological. The secular Marxist left has inculcated in succeeding generations the implication that the only way that the caucasion ‘race’ can ‘atone’ for the ‘sins’ of their ancestors is thru national, cultural and racial suicide. The evidence for this is that non-white, 3rd world societies have no such issue.
As for a decline in western populations leading to a decline in productivity, leading to economic collapse… robotics will increasingly compensate for a declining work force.
“Japan is integrating robots into farming to address its aging agricultural workforce and labor shortages, using technologies like automated tractors, AI-powered harvesting robots, and drones for monitoring. These robots are designed to handle tasks from planting and harvesting to providing data-driven insights for optimized crop growth.”
Real education that focuses on developing the individual’s inherent talents is the way to have a reasonable rate of employment in a reduced work force.
A robot can be programed to print a chair. It cannot be programed to create a work of art.
https://www.aesuperlab.com/diwani-chair/
https://www.ignant.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ignant-design-unusual-chairs-6.jpg
https://www.idfdesign.com/images/luxury-classic-chairs-with-arm-rests/art-1734-vivaldi-carved-wood-chairs-3.jpg
The Gold Star is a heavy load to bear.
But a Blue Star is, as well.
My father and all my uncles were WW II vets. One did not serve in combat.
In 69, my brother and I were serving. I suppose I could have gone to Canada but I thought I should serve. I even chose Infantry. Our sister, youngest of us, said that when she was home from college, at night she could hear my parents crying. Which of their sons was going to die? Turned out to be my brother. WTF is that all about? I’m Infantry and he’s dead?
I’ll never forgive myself for what I put my parents through. I don’t know how I’ll face them in the Next World.
Once, when Notifying Next of Kin; found the house but had to park two doors down. A family in a car, just leaving their home, looked at me with horror. I can only imagine their relief when I turned away. And their guilt for their relief as I went to another home.
Half a dozen neighbors followed me up the sidewalk. Same when I went to talk to the parents. “I don’t want to live anymore,” said the father. After asking a neighbor to get me a glass of water.
By the grace of my Savior, I was able to talk my son out of enlisting after 9-11. We’ve paid our dues in a number of time zones since, at least, the Spanish American War. Enough. I think he still feels it. He goes out of his way to do good works, and not the casual stuff.
Survivor Assistance Officer for another family. Took care of one thing or another. Some years out, we met at a memorial dedication in the county from which their guy entered service. I found that Mom was gone but…time. About three years ago, I found she’d committed suicide five years after her son was killed.
During WW II, how’d you like to be the guy delivering telegrams? Most were innocent business. But when you see the guy on the street….
So, while we served, at least we got paid. Others served….
It was often noted between the wars that people always spoke of the armistice — not the peace.
I read about it in G.K. Chesterton’s collection The End of the Armistice, his work on the outbreak of WWII — which is a bit of a feat, considering he died in 1936.
In Canada, in a elementary school heavily laden with Pride flags on the mast, and heavy with ‘unceded’ land acknowledgements… they held a Remembrance Day ceremony for the kids.
They read “Flanders Field”, as they have each year. Students hung wreaths. And a Retired Colonel from the Canadian Armed Forces spoke. He told the kids the truth (with care).
The ceremony has somehow remained unchanged over the last few years.
One of the wreaths had a Palestinian Flag among several other countries. I went up to look more carefully, and there was an Israeli flag as well.
Maybe there is hope.
Richard Aubrey expresses a point of view seldom heard. In the Navy, we call them Casualty Assistance Calls Officers. (CACOs) An assignment that no one wants, but it must be done.
They speak to and observe the grief that comes with the loss of a loved one. It’s a job that challenges your humanity and your faith. Certainly, those who are in a position to start wars would be less likely to do so if they had ever served as a CACO.
Richard Aubrey, your words about your selfless service to bereaved families also struck me. Thank you sir for doing what had to be done.
My late parents were life members of the American Legion and devoted many, many hours to serving veterans in visitations at the V.A. Hospital. When I returned from my draftee stint in Germany they had me join them on some of their visits. I gained new appreciation of my folks when I saw how they reached out to injured, disabled and dejected patients there of all ages.
Once, during my newspaper reporter days, I interviewed a 100-year-old man for an obit about his recently deceased wife. In the course of our conversation he told me that when he entered the Army toward the end of WW I, he was trained by Civil War vets who had been recalled to duty to replace training personnel who had been sent “Over There.”
My late father-in-law was a WW II Navy vet, a small boat commander who served in the South Pacific. He was one of the assembled officers aboard the U.S.S. Missouri who witnessed the Japanese signing surrender documents there. Many years later he helped organize a welcome home parade in Chicago for returning Vietnam War vets.
So many ways, known and unknown, honored and unheralded, in which people served for the good of others. God knows.