Respect for Service and Sacrifice
After completing my first post for GLTNewsNow yesterday, I scheduled it for publication early this evening. Upon further reflection, I decided to reschedule it for tomorrow. While some of the issues I want to address are important, today is not my day. Today is Veterans Day, and nothing should call attention away from that.
Victorious Marines parade in France following the end of World War I.
According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Day[1] was first recognized on November 11th of 1919 as Armistice Day – one year after World War I hostilities ceased on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”
President Eisenhower signs the resolution changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day.
In 1926, Congress passed a resolution urging the President to issue a proclamation calling for displays of the US flag and “appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples,” and a subsequent Act in 1938 made November 11th of every year a legal holiday – “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace.“ It wasn’t until 1954, at the culmination of an effort started by shoe store owner Alvin J. King, that Congress amended the 1938 Act to replace “Armistice” with “Veterans.” That same year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day Proclamation, in which he called upon the entire country to “solemnly remember the sacrifices of 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.”
Today is the 91st anniversary of the armistice that ended fighting in World War I, optimistically dubbed the “War to End All Wars” at the time. Since then, our nation has relied upon the services – and sometimes the sacrifices – of countless servicemembers, whether to maintain military readiness or to serve in any of numerous wars, conflicts or peacekeeping missions. These brave individuals have committed themselves to unquestioning service to our country, and regardless of public sentiment about particular missions they are given, their willingness to put themselves in harm’s way to defend our country is worthy of the greatest respect and appreciation from every one of us.
How sad, then, that we continue to let LGBTQ servicemembers suffer in silence, enduring torture and shame under a policy that rewards their service with thinly-veiled animosity. I am just as guilty as the next person of getting caught up in the furor over marriage equality and employment non-discrimination while doing far too little to secure the repeal of DADT (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell). As Ben Gómez asks in his post today, where is our military Stonewall? Why aren’t more of us fighting for our own friends and loved ones, who are willing to sacrifice so much and whose honor, pride, livelihood and lives we could defend in kind by focusing more on one of our easiest challenges? On a day honoring those who have given so much, when we are meant to recall the peace, justice and freedom they defend for us, I am ashamed that we as a community – and I as an individual – have done so little for them.
Please visit Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) or American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) today, and learn how to get involved.
US Flags decorate the graves of fallen veterans.
1 The US Government says there is no apostrophe, which is why I’m not using one. “Veterans” is intended to be attributive, not possessive. (back to post)
