Veterans Day Honors Service, Sacrifice

Read about real veterans' experiences and the sacrifices they made in the best military books written by the veterans.

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2011 – Until the 1960s, veterans groups used the red poppy as the symbol of Veterans Day. In Great Britain, it still is.

The symbol comes from a poem, “In Flanders Fields,” written by Canadian doctor John M. McCrae in 1915.

The first two verses of McCrae’s three-verse poem read:

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.”

McCrae tended to the first victims of a German chemical attack on the British line at the Belgian town of Ypres during World War I.

The fields of Flanders, where some of the most horrific battles occurred, are now dotted with cemeteries filled with the war dead. If you fly across France and Belgium, you can still see the remains of the trench systems of the war.

The Great War of 1914 to 1918, called the first modern global conflict, was an enormous divide for the world. Millions of service members died in the conflict. Millions more civilians were also killed or died of disease.

It truly was a world war. Troops fought in Turkey, the Balkans, East Africa and the Middle East as well as in Russia and France. The war caused the Russian czar to fall and allowed Vladimir Lenin to build what would become the Soviet Union.

On Nov. 11, 1918, that war came to an end. At 11 a.m. the shooting stopped. A war that saw 20,000 British "Tommies" die in 20 minutes at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, was over. The war that saw 1,384,000 French "poilus" die, ended in the trenches that extended from Switzerland to the Belgian coast. Americans, who joined the war in 1917, lost more than 100,000 soldiers in the fighting.

The Germans had signed an armistice with the allies and to the generations of The Great War, Nov. 11 remains Armistice Day. For decades, veterans sold paper poppies to raise money for memorials and for the families of those who died in the war.

But The Great War was not, as President Woodrow Wilson hoped, "the war to end all wars." World War II rose from its ashes, and millions more died to stop the mad dreams of dictators from 1939 to 1945. The U.S. Congress changed the name of Armistice Day to Veterans Day to honor all veterans after more blood was spilled during the Korean conflict to halt aggression.

Congress moved Veterans Day, along with most other federal holidays, to be celebrated on the closest Monday to the traditional date. But soon Congress reversed itself on Veterans Day because of public pressure to honor the powerful symbolism of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

This year, national observance of “11-11-11,” will include a presidential wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery and ceremonies around the country.

Along with two world wars and Korea, Americans and their allies have fought and died in Vietnam, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and other places.

Today, the United States' armed forces confront enemies around the world. U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen defend freedom on station wherever, whenever they are called.

Those serving in the military today are ensuring that they do not ignore the final verse of McCrae's poem:

"Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from falling hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields."

Editor’s Note: This is a slightly revised version of a story initial published by the American Forces Press Service in 2005.

This Day in Naval History - Feb. 09

From the Navy News Service

1799 - USS Constellation, commanded by Capt. Thomas Truxtun, captures the French warship l'Insurgente.

1943 - The organized Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal ends.

1947 - Carrier USS Wright (CVL 49) is commissioned.

1978 - A new era in naval communications begins with the launching of the first satellite of the Navy's Fleet Satellite Communications System.

1984 - Destroyer USS Moosbrugger (DD 980) fires approximately 150 shells at Syrian artillery positions east of Beirut.

Pentagon Officials Monitor Protests Overseas

By Karen Parrish

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2011 – Defense Department officials are closely watching protests that have flared over recent days in Egypt and Lebanon, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today.

“These are ... separate, fast-moving situations that the secretary and others here in this department, and … obviously others throughout the government, are monitoring closely as they evolve,” Morrell told Pentagon reporters in a briefing here.

“We have a long-standing military-to-military relationship with Egypt, and we have an evolving military-to-military relationship with Lebanon,” he said.

Since Syria pulled its forces out of Lebanon in 2006, Morrell said, the United States has pursued a closer military relationship, providing assistance “upwards of $600 million” to Lebanon in that time.

“In the case of Lebanon, we’re monitoring the situation as the constitutional process plays out. We will need to see what the final makeup of the Lebanese government looks like before we make any decisions regarding our relationship, including military assistance,” he said.

A Hezbollah-controlled government would “obviously have an effect” on the U.S-Lebanon relationship, Morrell said.

“I think [the State Department] should take it from here, in terms of the ultimate impact that may or may not have on military-to-military relationship and financial assistance,” he added.

The White House has addressed the protest situation in Egypt at length, Morrell said. A White House statement on Egypt released yesterday urges all parties to refrain from violence.

“We support the universal rights of the Egyptian people, including the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly,” the statement reads, in part. “The Egyptian government has an important opportunity to be responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people, and pursue political, economic and social reforms that can improve their lives and help Egypt prosper. The United States is committed to working with Egypt and the Egyptian people to advance these goals.”

Defense officials are hosting senior Egyptian military leaders this week for their annual bilateral defense talks, Morrell said.

“That’s just an example of how engaged we are with the Egyptians, even as these developments have taken place on the streets of Cairo, and elsewhere,” he said.

United States vs Hamas & Hezbollah

Hamas, all of organizations, with Israeli help, recently foiled an assassination attempt on former president Jimmy Carter.

Question, had the effort succeeded, would that mean war? I think so. But how to proceed? Might it simply be a matter of outsourcing the job to our Israeli friends, who no doubt would love to eradicate Hamas once and for all? Or would national honor require US Marine landing on Gaza Beach. Americans, of course have been killed by Hamas and Hezbollah.

Had the attempt succeeded, Hamas one suspects, could be crushed relatively easily, with Gaza pinned up against Israel.

Hezbollah, ensconced as it is in southern Lebanon, would be a far tough nut to crack, requiring a Marine Expeditionary Unit, in this case the II out of Camp Lejune, supported by elements of the Army and the 6th fleet.

The 22nd MEU would land north of the Litani River and drive for the Bekka Valley. The 26th MEU would make up the follow on wave and push north to the Bekka . To cut off Syrian help from the north, would below Beirut and take up blocking positions. Sealing up the Bekka would be critical. To that end, the 173rd Airborne Brigade could be dropped into the valley, with one battalion keeping a watch on Syria while the other guards the southern approach.

The key would be to pin Hezbollah south of the Litania River and destroying their paramilitary forces, amounting to several thousand well armed and organized militia boasting a large arsenal of anti tank rockets. Hezbollah could certainly slow an American advance, and inflict casualties, as they did upon the IDF in 2006.

Of course, all this begs the question, what would the 12 infantry brigades and special operations brigades of Lebanese army do. They could not stop the Marines, they could barely fight them, but the sight of Lebanese Army troops being slaughtered by American forces would be bad publicity to say the least.

Are Hamas and Hezbollah stupid enough to give the United States a reason to go to war with them?

For more about Will, visit http://www.gulfwarone.com/. His novel, 'A Line Through the Desert' can be purchased here.