Veterans Day, Ninety-Five Years On by Adam Hochschild and Joe Sacco The enduring folly of the Battle of the Somme. NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Veterans Day in Ireland by Jason R. Myers For one thing, it's not Veterans Day, it's Remembrance Day. For another, it's not an official holiday, even though some 200,000 Irishman fought in World War I. NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Prepare to Welcome Our Troops Home from Afghanistan by Vaughn Davis Bornet America's longest war will soon be over. NOVEMBER 11, 2013

This Veterans Day, Beware the Dangers of Robot War by William Astore This Veterans Day, we need to turn away from the false promise of robot weaponry NOVEMBER 12, 2012

Veterans Day is a Time for Love for One's Country by Vaughn Davis Bornet What can be said on Veterans Day 2011 that has not been said repeatedly over our years of remembering war and that final peace? NOVEMBER 11, 2011

This Veterans Day, Let's Reflect on the D.C. War Memorial by Jeffrey S. Reznick We should celebrate the newly-restored District of Columbia War Memorial. NOVEMBER 7, 2011

Remembering Generosity and Commitment this Veterans Day by William Astore Let's remember that America's veterans have often exhibited remarkable generosity of spirit and awe-inspiring levels of commitment. NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Honoring Indian Veterans This Veterans Day by Ed Hooper More than 44,000 Indians served in World War II. NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Keeping Veterans Day Alive by Ed Hooper Veterans Day celebrations are in retrenchment all over the country. NOVEMBER 1, 2009

This Veterans Day Let's Hear from the Troops Themselves by Robert E. Bonner This years Veterans Day comes in the wake of fierce political campaigning over which policies best serve the interest of U.S. soldiers. NOVEMBER 10, 2006

• John Arquilla: Casualties of History ... The Thing We Shouldn't Forget About the Origins of Veterans Day (11-9-12)
• Patrick Logan: On Veterans Day, Recalling Dreams Sacrificed (11-10-10)
• Veterans Day Marks Efforts to Honor and Preserve Veterans History (10-22-10)
• Curtis Flood: A Navy Lieutenant's Reflections on Veterans Day, 2009 (11-15-09)
• Bob Richards: Veterans Day or Rulers Day? (11-11-09)
• Navajo Code Talkers to Walk in NYC Veterans Day Parade (11-11-09)
• Rasmussen Report: 28% Say Today's Veterans Face More Challenges Than Vietnam Returnees (11-9-09)
• Alexander Watson: A Holiday to End All Wars (11-10-08)
  
• Dan Todman: How We Remember Them: The 1914-18 War Today (11-7-08)
  
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• Juan Cole: Gloomy Veterans Day Post (11-12-07)
• San Francisco Chronicle celebrates an unusual vet on Veterans Day: Lawrence Ferlinghetti (11-11-06)
  
• Kenneth T. Jackson: "From These Honored Dead:" Memorial Day and Veterans Day in American History (6-1-05)
  
• Veterans Day '05 [1min] (11-12-05)
  
• Veterans Day/WWI Armistice [50min] (11-12-05)
  
• Veterans Day Commemorations in Washington, D.C. [3min] (11-11-05)
  
• Clarence Page: My Changing Views of Veterans Day [3min] (11-11-05)
  

vaughn davis bornet - 11/1/2010

There is absolutely nothing equivalent to the heartfelt writing of an educated person, focusing sharply on a personal and oh so emotional subject.

I did indeed profit from this, for I have been laboring on a book centering on veterans and commemoration of their sacrifices.

I well remember being the featured speaker at the Veterans Domiciliary in White City several times and in its cemetery out in the open on Memorial Day.

Teaching in College is great in so many ways, but I would wish that academic folks would seek out opportunities to share what they know when the chance comes with the very special audiences that assemble where veterans are involved.

Many do so, I know, and this is not at all in criticism; just a hint that there will probably be a hidden reward down the line.

Thanks so much.

Vaughn Davis Bornet Ashland, Oregon

Sanda Aronson - 11/11/2009

My father was disabled in boot camp after enlisting in WWII. I was a baby and my mother had to sign papers, giving permission. She told me, a few years ago, before she died, that she only signed because he wanted to go. She was near tears as she described how hard it was financially. My dad was in and out of VA hospitals from the time he got ill, spinal meningitis epidemic in boot camp until his death in 1950.
So many of the issues remain for families of veterans: money, lack of the person's presence. My dad had to fight the VA (Veterans Administration) to get his VA status upgraded from 75% to 100%. He was left with both back problems and heart trouble as a result of the spinal meningitis he'd gotten in boot camp. He died shortly after getting the VA to change his status.

I know this problem continues for vets today. I have photos of a veteran making music on Fifth Ave. a few years ago, with a sign on his supermarket shopping cart that his VA disability percentage was 20%, if my memory is correct. It was low. There are consequences in re care and benefits. He was dealing with cancers, his sign also said. And his music was good,too.

I found copy of my dad's correspondence with the VA after he died. I was able to go to college on the GI Bill, as a child of a deceased or disabled veteran. He'd never gone to college and worked for the US post office, which he continued off and on, between stays to VA hospitals until he couldn't.

I have few memories of my dad, who thought I was the greatest gift he'd received from the universe. My mother told me, years later, that my dad made her promise to send me to college. Luckily, there was the GI Bill and SUNY (before it was SUNY) for me. I was so young that I could use my benefits for education through a year of graduate school: it was good for 4 years of college or to age 21. I don't think that kids of vets have been getting that option, although there's new legislation, I think.

My memory, every Veterans Day, comes up: visiting my dad at the Brooklyn VA hospital that was not too far from our apartment. An uncle "hid" me under his long coat. No doubt many staff people saw a man walking with an extra pair of naked legs of a four year old, in little shoes and anklet socks behind his trousered legs. I went onto a long ward. Lots of men in beds, long row on each side of the long room/ward.
My dad was unable to get out of bed, as were most of the others. He proudly introduced me and I was so happy to see him. The other men appeared tickled,too. Most of my dad's VA trips were to Florida VA hospitals. Too far to visit for us.

My mom was left widowed with me, age ten (right after my birthday), with a four year old, and pregnant.

Note:epidemics in boot camps are not that unusual and didn't end with WWII. I have a cousin by marriage who was disabled by a spinal meningitis epidemic in his boot camp before he got to Vietnam, decades later. The problem is mentioned in a book by an author who I applaud,
Hillary Johnson, in her book, "Osler's Web", New York:Crown Publishers, 1995. It's the politics of illness, specifically CFS/ME - my illness, although she mentions Gulf War Syndrome in a chapter along with epidemics in US military camps.
She also recently had an Op Ed article on Oct. 2l, 2009, NYTimes,
"A Case of Chronic Denial". It's all about money, whether it be treatment for vets or regular folks. Not wanting to spend the money.