VETERANS DAY, November 11, 2020

Remember the Veterans and their Families.

A soldier assigned to the Oklahoma National Guard walks with loved ones at an Army aviation facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after returning on October 19, from a yearlong deployment to the U.S. Central Command area of operations.

This Soldier is from Bravo Company, 834th Aviation Support Battalion, of the 90th Troop Command, Oklahoma Army National Guard. They returned from a 12-month deployment, where they provided support to another National Guard unit — the 34th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade — from Minnesota.

 

(Oklahoma Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. C.T. Michael)

In May, on Memorial Day, America remembers the honored dead, those who gave their lives in this country’s wars since 1775.

U.S. Soldiers celebrate the Armistice near Remoiville, France in November 1918. (archival photo via the Fort Hood Sentinel)

 

But on Veterans Day every November, Americans honor the living who served or continue to serve in uniform. November 11 is the anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I – the “War to End All Wars” — in 1918. Unfortunately, history has proven that was an overly optimistic term for what turned out to be the First World War.

After years of bloodshed in the 20th and early 21st centuries, we’d like to pause here to remember the sacrifice of all those who serve their country in both war and peace. Even far from a combat zone, many of them have risky jobs on aircraft carrier decks, in fast moving armored vehicles and high flying aircraft. There is hard work, as well as danger, in airplane hangars and  ships at sea. Depots and warehouses are stuffed with equipment and supplies that can blow up, burn, sicken or maim the humans working nearby.

We also don’t want to forget veterans from the Greatest Generation who are still with us, like 102-year-old Vivian Corbett, or Arthur Rinetti.