Focus on the Living Vets This Veterans Day

It was 11:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918.

At that precise day and hour, the guns that had raged and thundered across the fronts in the Great War fell silent. The ground that had for so long been blasted and shaken and severed by innumerable artillery shells and gouged with deep, zigzagging trenches and muddy dugouts was suddenly still and undisturbed. The blood shed between 8.5 million and 11 million soldiers of all nationalities and by as many as 5 million noncombatant civilians ceased to pollute the soil. The fighting had finally ended.

Trenches such as this zigzagged across Western Europe during World War I.

Soldiers tried to live and sleep in such dugouts amid the trenches of World War I.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed in the Hall of Mirrors.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany and the Allied Powers in the Hall of Mirrors on June 28, 1919, more than 7 months after the fighting had ceased. But separate treaties were still being signed with the other Central Powers, including Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, into 1920. The war that had engulfed practically all of Europe, the Middle East, and the United States and Canada had taken another two years to fully end after the guns fell silent.

Yet, such is the nature of men and governments that the peace allegedly secured by those treaties only sowed the seeds of the next, much bigger and worse war less than 20 years later. And so wars continue because we never seem to learn.

President Eisenhower signed the bill changing the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day.

After American soldiers returned from Europe, individuals and groups honored them in special ceremonies. As that practice spread, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Armistice Day in 1919. In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed HR 7786, a bill changing the name of the holiday to Veterans Day and expanding the commemoration from only World War I veterans to veterans of all wars in which the U.S. was involved. And it has continued to expand over the years from World War I to World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, and innumerable "police actions" during the interwar periods, thereby encompassing all veterans of our military branches of all time.

Seaman Charles Dietterich, World War II veteran.

And our veterans certainly deserve such honor and recognition. They have been the defenders of our freedoms, whether in actual combat or in times of peace when they helped play a deterrent role.

But too often, uninformed or ill-informed people continue to confuse Veterans Day with other holidays honoring various categories of military personnel. They especially get Veterans Day and Memorial Day mixed up.

Memorial Day is the time for honoring the memories of those who died in service to our country. Veterans Day is for honoring those military service personnel who are living, both those who are currently in uniform and those who have since returned to civilian life. We can only remember the former, for they are no longer among us; we can actually thank in person the latter for they are still with us.

Sadly, there are no veterans still living who served during World War I, and the number who served during World War II and the Korean War are dwindling daily. That's our fathers' generation. They are in their nineties and have not much longer with us. Therefore, we must especially honor and thank them on this Veterans Day. It might be the last chance we get to do so for many of them.

Vietnam veterans didn't receive a good welcome when they returned. They deserve one now.

Our Vietnam War veterans are also passing from the scene. That's my generation. Let's be especially mindful to thank them as well, especially since they received a deplorable welcome upon their return from that conflict.

But we must forget none of the veterans who still are living, regardless of when they served and whether in combat or in the deterrent role. So thank a veteran today.