So proudly we hail

Honor our veterans

When the world was younger, it paused at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to pay homage to those who died in the “war to end all war.”

As the bloody century ground on, that war became the first of many as millions more died in subsequent conflicts pitting evil against good.

At the end of the day, after the lofty words of politicians and stirring oratory of generals faded into history, the veterans of those wars walk among us. We often forget they are there.

Now, November 11 is set aside to pay tribute to all veterans. For too many people, it’s just another day off, a day with no mail delivery.

Perhaps the shrinking number of veterans the past few decades explains why things seem to be on a downward spiral in our society.

It’s way too easy to forget about the sacrifice that every veteran and their families made for our country. We owe them a debt and need to treat them with honor. The deplorable treatment received by returning Vietnam vets must never be repeated.

Many veterans came home with physical injuries, others returned with wounded souls that may never heal. Some seemed unscathed not realizing that they harbored a time bomb that would end their lives far too soon.

Agent Orange, the herbicide that defoliated the Vietnamese countryside denying the Viet Cong a place to hide, turned out to be a curse upon American troops.

Sailors who patrolled the Mekong River in their youth find themselves stricken with terrible terminal diseases in late middle age robbing them of the precious years to see grand children grow up. We don’t know what threats those currently in uniform will face decades down the road.

Veterans came home changed by their military service. They matured, gained confidence by being a part of something larger than themselves. They learned the value of being able to depend on their buddies and understood the obligation of being depended upon.


When veterans return to civilian life, those new attitudes shape the way that they conduct themselves and in turn better our nation.

They value good character and live lives worthy of emulation.

And they pitch in to make their corner of the world a little better.

Grasping the intuitive wisdom of a philosophy that mandates “officers east last,” many a self-involved young junior officer honed leadership skills that carried over into civilian life after military service.

We all know about the heroes who won the medals and the wars. It’s far too easy to forget about the scores of support personnel who made the heroism possible.

World War II was fought by boys who left farms, offices, factories and unemployment lines to defend their country. Some with physical difficulties that could have earned them a 4F draft deferment, connived their way into uniform.

The tasks they performed, keeping the morale up on troop ships crossing the submarine infested Atlantic Ocean, for instance, took them into harm’s way. They would have been just as dead as the heroes of Dieppe, but gotten little notice.

More recently, Goochland’s own Aaron Boyd, who was a Navy cook on an aircraft carrier following the 9/11 attacks, did his bit by making sure that pilots found fresh chocolate chip cookies waiting for them when they returned to the ship.

Bobby McCormick, who has served several tours of duty in Iraq, is the new young face of the American veteran. He left his beautiful family to fight for his country.

Our veterans represent the best of America. They put their lives on the line to defend freedom and our way of life. There are no words to adequately thank them, but do it anyway.

American Legion Post 215 will hold a Veterans’ Day observance at 11 a.m. on the Courthouse green weather permitting. In case of rain, the event will be held at the high school.