 Many of us will be working on this day and won't be able to attend
Veterans Day events. Still others will use the day off as an
opportunity to be with family and friends. We have been empowered to
enjoy this day, using it as we so choose. That privilege has been
sustained for us by all our veterans since 1861 through today, Nov. 11,
2009.We thank those who are serving or have served, but we also
wish to remember those veterans whose names have been lost to us
over the decades of time.
It is important to remember all of those through our storied past
who have fallen in service, all who have passed after serving their
country honorably and diligently, including those whose names have
been lost to us. They are our country's unknown soldiers and their
number is myriad.
The tomb of the unknowns in today's top picture represents fallen
soldiers who have given not only their lives, but also their
identities in service to our country. But there are more than just
those three soldiers who are unknown to us. There are millions
throughout the nation, and in the small county of Logan their
numbers stretch into the thousands.
It is not by our neglect nor uncaring that the names of so many
local veterans have been lost to us. Even within families some of
the names of those who were veterans have been forgotten, as time
can be unkind to long-past ancestors we never knew.
Yes, their names are listed nobly somewhere on a roster, or a
muster or a DD214 record. But those reports themselves are so
plentiful that to look at them and see all the names doesn't give
them the justice that each and every name deserves.
Each and every name on such a list was an individual with hopes
and dreams and aspirations. Each gave some of the best years of his
or her life while protecting this country. Many gave his or her life
preserving our country then for us today. In all of those names,
each had a life's story, some shorter than others, but every one
having the same worth and merit as another. Those lives are in the
veteran's hand that we shake in thanks today.
The veterans have not and never will demand our thanks. Rather,
such thanks to them should be demanded by each of us.
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On this day it is a fitting time when we can thank those veterans we
know and in remembrance thank all those veterans we know who have
passed.
It is also a special moment when we can remember those we will
never know but who did so much that allows us to be who we are, say
what we think and attempt to be what we dream of becoming.
And so today, whether you gather with others or do not, we ask
that you remember that as a fledgling nation we not only gave
ourselves our special and world-revered freedoms, but also have
strived to show peace and justice to all nations. It has been by our
soldiers' hands and blood that those freedoms have been protected,
allowing no one or no nation to take them away.
As we give thanks to all the veterans we treasure as family
members and friends, we ask all of you to also give thanks for all
the vets we will never know.
We ask that you say a prayer in thanks for our soldiers and
veterans, and their families, and ask the good Lord to keep them
close to Him and care for them. He knows every single one of them.
And He doesn't need a roster or a list.
"Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to
God." -- Inscription on tomb of the unknowns
[By
MIKE FAK and LDN staff]
Veterans Day history:
http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp
"The important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor
America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and
willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good." -- United
States Department of Veterans Affairs
Lists of Logan County veterans in early wars:
http://logan.ilgenweb.net/
Logan County honor roll of veterans:
http://www.illinoisancestors.org/
veterans/logan_county.html |
