By Staff
Our View
Veterans Day makes for a slightly different holiday than the others celebrated throughout the year. One reason that makes this day different is that Veterans Day arrives in the middle of the week, no matter the year.
It forces people to take a minute or two and remember all veterans, whether alive or deceased.
Holidays like those honoring Presidents Washington and Lincoln and Christopher Columbus Day have been fashioned into three-day weekends in which the honorees are a mere afterthought.
But this doesn't apply to Veterans Day, which began as a celebration of the signing of the armistice at "the 11th hour, of the 11th month" that ended World War I in 1918. It too had been made into a Monday holiday, but then restored to its rightful date at the efforts of proud armed services veterans who wanted the holiday to mean something.
This day finds Americans once again at war, bringing freedom to Iraq and hunting down terrorists in Afghanistan and around the world.
Those who have returned safely – our newest veterans – have returned with stories both of violence and of hope.
Many times in this young nation's history, we've taken up arms against oppression and tyranny. Young men and women across this great land have dedicated their lives to the proposition of freedom and asked for little in return.
It's for a noble purpose that we celebrate the lives of the men and women that have served in the military. We say thank you to all our veterans both here and abroad. We say thank you to those who made it back, and those who never returned.