Today is Veterans Day, a day when the thousands of those who served in the American military are remembered and honored—or they should be. While every day is Veterans Day for me, I will be attending the 11 a.m. Memorial Ceremony today at VFW Post 630 in Urbana as I have for the last 25 years.
Commander Phil Smith, an Army sergeant who had a combat deployment in Iraq in 2005 as well as deployments to Kuwait and Germany, will be speaking and conducting the ceremony outside the post by the American flag. The public is welcome. Hope to see you there.
Growing up with veterans, appreciating what they did to guarantee our freedoms and opportunities, I could hardly wait to serve myself. As a young boy, I remember sitting in a local poolroom next to a World War I veteran who had lost an arm in the war, talking to him and watching him roll a cigarette with one hand while my father shot pool with two other veterans of that war.
Amazed, I watched the man roll the cigarette, and I asked him how he’d lost his arm. “In the war, son,” he replied and said no more. I was stunned, also wondering how he could roll a cigarette with one hand. I could only tell him I was sorry.
Relatives, neighbors and many others had put their private lives on hold and were either drafted or enlisted in the military to help guarantee our way of life. Two of my grade school teachers were World War II veterans, two high school teachers and coaches served in WWII, and one in the Korean War. I loved their classes and listened closely as they taught us and coached football and basketball. Another one taught English and directed plays. He wrote a play for the school production that had a henpecked husband in it. He laughed when he cast me for the part. I laughed, too, and had a great time.
After serving three years in the Marine Corps and serving with World War II and Korean War veterans, I felt a camaraderie with veterans and appreciate hearing people say, “Thank you for your service.” Not all veterans feel that way. A Vietnam veteran friend no longer with us, always told people not to thank him but to “do your own service.”
It is a kind and considerate gesture, though, for those who haven’t served to thank veterans for their service and to attend Veterans Day ceremonies. There are several of them today, including at schools to show students what veterans have done for the country. So there’s so much more that can be done for veterans than a simple thanks. Which is why every day is Veterans Day for me.
For the last many years, I’ve tried to do what I can to honor veterans. Accompanying them on tours back to where they fought and their buddies died (if they want to go), driving them to doctor appointments at the VA, getting sporting event tickets for them and taking them to ball games, meeting with them at reunions, and other similar things are more tangible ways to show my respect and gratitude. They, in turn, are very appreciative, and I enjoy my time with them immensely. That’s my thanks for serving.
If I ever doubted the value of this approach, I just have to recall the time at one Fifth Marine Division Association reunion in the early 2000s when I was sitting with a group of Iwo Jima veterans from Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 27thRegiment, 5th Marine Division.
These aging men surrounding me were once the young men who charged up those sulfur-smelling dunes of sand and volcanic ash that gave way under their feet with every step. They saw their buddies get blown to bits. They fired on their enemy with unrelenting determination. They longed for sleep and a bath. And they cheered at the site of the American flag at the top of Mount Suribachi. One had lost part of his leg, others had been wounded but came home and contributed to the country they had helped save.
Years later, they welcomed me into their midst, as always, and trusted me to hear and share their stories. In expressing my honor and gratitude to them for their service that day, one of them said, simply, “You’re one of us.”
Of course, I begged to differ, but it galvanized a responsibility in me to help others understand what these veterans did for the world and the price they paid—a responsibility I’d not even realized was beginning to take root when I was that curious young boy sitting by that elderly World War I veteran who as a young man had lost his arm in that war.
That day and those words were the greatest “thank you” I’ve ever received. Words—whether saying them or writing them—can be very cathartic and life changing. And I’ll never forget those words.
I’d been particularly close to these Marine veterans since I attended a reunion in Metairie, Louisiana, in the 2005. There were 10-12 in that group. They opened up to my questions, and I was soon working on a novella, “Iwo Blasted Again,” based on tours to Iwo Jima, and my interviews with them. One of them, who was a poet and an English teacher supplied much of the information. He had written a poem by that name and gave me permission to use it as the title to my book. He became somewhat of a mentor and sounding board, and it would have been a very different book without him.
So I finished the novel, gave each of them a copy, helped some of them get free trips to Iwo Jima, and always saw them at reunions until the last one died. But the story goes on. I thought it would make a good movie about how combat affected those who fought and survived.
Later, when my daughter Jessica was working on a master’s degree in theatre at Illinois, she said she thought a play would be more appropriate and asked if she could write one for “Iwo Blasted Again” for her master’s project. Again, like with the Easy Company veterans, I was almost speechless with the honor I felt from her asking to do that. Of course, I agreed.
She’s titled the script “Iwo Sundown.” Like the novella, the play looks at effects of combat on individuals and how they return to civilian life and deal with it the rest of their lives
She conveys the traumatic effect of combat and active military duty on those who serve, but also how it bleeds into every family and affects us all, which is extremely important in today’s world where wars still rage, and men and women fight and die. These men and women need support and understanding.
So every day continues to be Veterans Day. I appreciate being thanked for my service. But I appreciate the opportunity to work with and help other veterans when I can. I hope more people will take the time to do something kind and helpful to veterans around them. Through their service, they were willing to risk it all for you, their fellow citizens. But that comes at a price. You don’t have to support the war to support the veterans.
I don’t think that’s asking too much of ourselves. Do you?