In Memory

Veterans Day 2014

Interrupting NaNoWriMo ...

In 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the formal hostilities of World War I ended.

In the US, we call the recognition of that event Veterans Day. Other parts of the world may call it Armistice Day or Remembrance Day. Not to be confused with Memorial Day which celebrates the sacrifice of those who died in the service of their country, Veterans Day honors all people who have served.

In four years, it will have been 100 years since that armistice was signed. World War I (of course, the I was added later) was also called the Great War and was supposed to be the war to end all wars. How sad that it wasn't able to achieve it, that the 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians who died were not the last to suffer death at war, that the generation of veterans who first experienced chemical warfare was not the last.

It can be hard to get your head around the sheer number of people who died. You can click here to view pictures of the ceramic flowers being displayed at the Tower of London to recognize the human sacrifice--one for each of the hundreds of thousands of British soldiers who died in that war.

The last flower will be placed today.

As a veteran in a family of veterans, I have always been conscious of this day. But I am especially tender today since I'm working on a book whose main character is a wounded veteran.

No one goes to war and returns unscathed. No family of a veteran, having coped and agonized and sacrificed, is unscarred.

With all my heart, I thank those who have accepted the calls of their countries.

I would encourage everyone to reach out and find some way to help them, and please remember. Not all will wear their scars where everyone can see.

Wounded Warrior Project

PTSD - 10 Ways a Community Can Help

Pets For Vets

Healing Heroes Network

Homes for Our Troops

Project New Hope

AND

For our active duty troops, there's Authors Supporting Our Troops. The event is going on right now. If you would like to send books to our troops, you can contact Armand Rosamilia on Facebook for where to send the signed books. 

Veterans Day

On a serious note:

I offer my thanks to the men and women (and their families who support them) who stand or have stood between us and those would relieve us of our freedoms. I'm an Army Veteran, and I come from a family of Veterans. Here's a link to my post from Memorial Day this year.

How about you? Have you served or do you have family members or friends who do/have? What branches did they serve in?

For fun, how far do they go back? My great great grandfather fought on the side of the South during the recent troubles or the war of northern aggression. My northern relatives might think them's fightin' words ...