Veteran's Day
This is the day that we remember all of those who, at one brief moment in our history, raised their right hand and gave their nation a 'signed blank check', a blank check for everything that they had — their life. Some of those checks were cashed, some were not.
As Billy Ray Cyrus reminds us in his music: All gave some, Some gave all.
The following from Albert Mohler:
[T]oday is Veterans Day and that’s November 11. It has been that way for a long time, pointing back to November 11, 1918, when World War I came to an end. That war was originally called the war to end all wars. It’s not anymore because it didn’t clearly end all wars. In fact, it didn’t even end with a surrender, it ended with an armistice and that became the setup for what became the second world war. But that armistice was declared as being in effect in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918 and it did so only after millions of soldiers had died on both sides in that horrifying war. Armistice Day was declared in 1919, it was made a national holiday in 1926. It is different than Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a national holiday to remember those who died in the uniform of our country. Veterans Day is a day to remember all those in uniform now living who served. It is the necessary companion to Memorial Day and it is a very important day, morally speaking in the United States. It reminds us to that the liberties we know and the liberties we prize were bought indeed with a price. Bought at the price of those who were willing not only to put on a uniform, but to enter into the nation’s armed forces in order to defend our freedoms and they did so by the millions. The last known statistics go back to 2013, when there were 19.6 million veterans of the military living in the United States, 2.1 served in the Korean War, 1.3 now living in World War II, 4.7 in peacetime only, 7 million served in Vietnam ,5.2 million now living served during some era of the Gulf War. But Veterans Day is so important that it is better not just be a day that government offices are closed. It better be a day when our hearts are open, that too, is our moral responsibility on Veterans Day.
Thanks be to all.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
/fl