Veterans Day Essay Response

As a proud member of the living veterans of this great nation. The United States of American, I am standing here before you to try and answer, with a logical explanation, in response to the essay that I just read and was written by one of your peers.

When I first read the essay I was shocked than mad to the point that I tossed the paper into the trash. After I cooled off I thought instead of getting mad at the writer what I should be doing is feeling sorry for her. With this in mind I turned to some of my fellow veterans and with the aid of the Internet sent the essay to them asking for their thoughts.

I received over a hundred responses, mostly wondering how and why a young person would even think such a thing let alone write it down for others to read.

To start with, we as a whole cannot believe a young person who traveled through the educational system in the United States can be so poorly versed in our country's history. In defense of her, we do believe wars are a waste of money along with the killing and injuring of innocent people and destroying homes and businesses. However, that is the only part of the essay we agree with.

Breaking your essay down statement-by-statement I will try to understand or at least let you know how others feel towards them.

You write, "To be completely honest, I do not really feel anything on Veterans Day."

This is an untrue statement. What you don't feel is compassion for the men and women who gave their lives serving in the military. Veterans Day is a day for the survivors and they try to remember those comrades left behind on the battlefield weather on land or water. War is the final ending to an argument and it has been going on sense Adam and Eve gave birth to Cain and Able. If you are familiar with the Bible, you know God directed his people to slay entire nations, so what makes modern-day-man any different? If it wasn't for veterans your essay might have been written in German or Japanese.

You write, "I don't get sad or upset for those who were injured or died. They went into war knowing they might die. But that didn't stop them. They say, if I die, I'll die for my country. I love this nation, but I wouldn't die for it."

To answer this we must first understand what it is to be an American. Men and women came to this great nation in order to find a better way of life, to be free to worship, to go and come as they please, to even write essays without repercussions. Veterans will fight even to death for the right of freedom. Not all who went into the services did willingly, (i.e. the draft) some were forced to serve their country. If you were to know the facts you would find out more veterans that served in WWI1, Korea, and Vietnam died on foreign land were forced to serve rather than volunteered, and not one of them wanted to die but when the time came every last one were heroes. You are young and probably right when you stated you don't get upset, you are the result of a liberal recidivism where slaughtering of millions of babies is called "choice" but the bombing of an enemy who tries to steal our freedom is wrong. For me I wake sometimes screaming with memories of seeing my shipmates sucked into the engines of airplanes, or falling overboard and we never find them. I can still see a swift boat blown out of the water in Vietnam with all the men on board killed. They are the ones that sacrificed the ultimate so you can have the freedom to enjoy this great nation. There's a place called Dacau located in West Germany you should go visit. It's the resting place of 10,000 people who had no desire to fight but only wanted to worship in their own way.

You write, "We can sit around and remember those who are fighting for this country and protecting us, but please, lets not watch TV specials and hear about Veterans Day celebrations on the news."

In answer to this, the best I can say is, don't do any of these things, but try to keep in your young mind it was a veteran that gave you the freedom to do so. I have a question for you. What is your feeling about Memorial Day? Here again both days are set-aside for Days of Remembrance not days you can get out of school for.

You write, "What are we trying to do? Make war into a holiday."

In answer to your question. No, it's a day to remember those who gave so we can enjoy this great nation. Not all veterans died. Some came back missing parts of their bodies and some with mental problems, still others from different wars were gassed or sprayed with chemicals causing prolong misery for the rest of their lives including their offspring. A mother whose son was serving in Vietnam kept quite about his service because the people were so against the war. She couldn't stand to be quiet any longer and spoke up. "I would rather see my son die in Vietnam so another could live in freedom, than for him to die a senseless death in an automobile accident here in the United States." Do not take for granted the freedom the armed forces veterans have allowed you. Because of them you will not be forced to line up in front of a trench and murdered because the government believes in ethnic cleansing.

You write, "I am not some cold-hearted person who says that Veterans Day is a crock. I just don't see the point in school having kids write essays on how they feel about it. I know one school that has to mail a letter to a random veteran and tell him them how much they appreciate what they done for this country. There are a few that have done great things for this country."

You are right; I'd call you uncaring. Letters help heal the pain some veterans feel, especially those who have to live out their lives in a hospital. When I was in Vietnam I received a letter addressed to any service man. It was from a young teenager who wrote saying he was sorry I was placing my life in danger for him and all America. I still write to him and now I write to his son who is serving in Iraq thanking him for his service and I pray he makes it home in one piece.

You write, "Most people who go into the armed forces are just going into it because they don't have any plans for college or they just want to be disciplined and made into a human machine."

This statement was confusing and hard to answer. Most of the veterans that responded to this essay had served over twenty years in the service. Most, like myself went on an obtained a college degree and became leaders in our hometowns, becoming teachers, policemen, fireman, and medical staff. Congress is made up of many veterans including General dark who is running for president. But seeing how you are gerent about Veterans Day and American history you wouldn't know about that.

You write, "Like the Navy for instance, they don't do anything, they never see any combat. All they do is travel on a battle ship all day, visit countries and get drunk on weekends. They never see any combat."

You lost most of us on this point. Do you know what type of ship the Arizona is? It's a battleship and it was sunk by Kamikaze attacks from a country we weren't even fighting at the time. Then there was the USS Franklin an aircraft carrier with men burning alive from the fires raging throughout the ship. Than there's the Navy Seals whose job it is to go into battle first and clear the landing areas so the others, (i.e. Marines) can make it ashore. Don't forget all them drunken sailors that that lost their lives landing the men on the beaches in the Normandy and Iwo Jima invasions. I'm sure you are aware a sailor helped raise the American flag on Iwo Jima. And then there are the sailors that go into battle with every Marine called corpsmen armed with only a medical bag.

You write, "A real thing to do for yourself is to go into the marines. I do respect them a lot because they go through a lot of hell, and most of them come out as better people."

To start with, the US Marines are part of the US Navy. Their doctors and all medical staff are sailors. Most marines are transferred from one point to the other on board ships and sometimes on weekend they too enjoy visiting countries and maybe having a sip or drink. You need to visit the Vietnam wall in DC and read some of the 58,000 names of Americans who gave their lives fighting for the freedom of others. As you read the names you'll notice a lot of Navy personnels' names on the wall along with all the other armed forces. It is sad to be that ignorant of the military and believe one branch is more important than another.

You write, "People make Veterans Day a day in which we cry and celebrate the veterans who have served and some who died in combat. Americans can go to parades and watch TV specials on the importance of Veterans Day, but do you realty think those who served really do? So why do we even waste our time trying to glorify them even more?"
Veterans are some of the proudest people; they will be the ones who remove their hats at ball games when the anthem is sung, stand when our flag passes in a parade, cry when taps is played. They don't need to watch specials on TV to remember, they will remember every time two or more veterans get together. We don't ask for glory and don't want any. As far as wasting our time, the majority of the teenagers are over weight from doing nothing more than sitting on their cans watching TV and playing video games.

In closing let me quote a veteran whose duty it is to present the American Flag to the mother of a veteran that was killed in combat. "God bless you. God bless your family. God bless the United States of America. I for one love all veterans and I will celebrate Veterans Day as long as I am able!

The above is a combined collection of thoughts from veterans.

Submitted and presented to the school by:
George Anderson Jr. HTC USN (Ret.)

Last Edited Guest on 13-Nov-2003 10:36 AM

«Back