When the Bell Tolls
Tuesday, November 11th at 11 a.m. we pause to honor all who have served in our armed forces.
That now famous hour signaled the end of the First World War in 1918.
This 11/11/11 is like no other as it is also the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the “War to End All Wars.”
In Flanders Fields
The fields of France are the final resting place for millions of soldiers who died in or near the trenches where for five years gigantic armies pummeled each other for control of mere yards of territory.
The stagnant warfare was both ghastly and incongruous.
Soldiers would be killed and buried only to be unearthed repeatedly by new exploding artillery rounds.
Fellow soldiers would live feet away from a half-buried and rotting colleague, unable to do more than look the other way.
The opposite end of the incongruity was that after a several week rotation through the trenches, a short train and a boat trip put a shell-shocked soldier back on the bustling streets of Southampton or London where normalcy predominated.
The dizzying horror was only accentuated by the fact that London newspapers and Fortnum and Mason gift baskets could make their way to the front lines, sometimes within days.
“Some strawberry jam with your cookies, sir?”
A Sacred Commitment
As our troops enter their 14th year fighting on the sun-drenched Afghan escarpment, the longest war in American history, we will reflect on their service and sacrifice.
But, it’s also essential that we reflect on how we are treating the thousands of soldiers from both Iraq and Afghanistan who returned with wounds both seen and unseen.
What does it say about our commitment to ailing soldiers when a four-star United States Army general and combat veteran who received three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts was the leader at the Veteran’s Administration during the latest scandal?
When Abraham Lincoln was re-elected in 1864 he famously said, “ …care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.”
So far we have failed Lincoln, our soldiers and ourselves.
