Well we just passed another Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day. Big deal! We have one every year and have been celebrating it since 1918, when WWI officially ended — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It means another day off from the office plus a few beer parties in various communities and that seems to be about it.
As a child, I actually got to meet some of these veterans from “the War to End All Wars” who had been gassed and suffered other horrible injuries.
I had the good fortune of attending two recent Veterans Day celebrations, one at the Palmer School in Palmetto Bay, the other, a new event in Cutler Bay. Okay, a free breakfast and the timing was right for a free lunch. Great!
At these recent events there were several, not many, World War II veterans there. Each time I attend one of these events I see fewer and fewer of these people around and, when talking to young people as I do on occasion, I doubt that they have the kind of appreciation that I have for these fabulous people.
Yes, I served a short time in the military during peacetime and it was a big pain, but I never had anyone actually shooting at me. That would change everything. A lot of these people were not only shot at but many of them actually hit and there were many people there that had lost loved ones in this tragic war.
Not long ago, when I was asked to speak to a group of middle schoolers about what the future may hold for them, I had just returned from a visit to Pearl Harbor. Most people my age or slightly younger probably will remember waking up on that horrible Dec. 7 morning in 1941 to find out that the Japanese had bombed one of our major naval bases and killed several thousand of our servicemen who were not at all prepared for such an attack. To me this is a big deal and always will be.
When I asked the kids in this class if they knew anything about Pearl Harbor or even where it was located they all had puzzled looks on their faces except one young man who suggested it might be somewhere between Palmetto Bay and Pinecrest. Whoo, boy!
I then took the time to explain to them what actually happened there and used several models and photos that I have depicting the actual events of the day. Hopefully this left an impression on them.
Seeing and meeting these few remaining veterans who were either at Pearl Harbor or serving in the military at the time and ended up going to Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, or one of the many other serious battle locations, I could hardly wait to talk to them and get their stories first-hand and, boy, did they love giving them out.
Here is the problem. Most of them were at least 15 to 20 years older than I am, and that is a lot. It also means that in perhaps another 10 years there won’t be any left, nor people like me who love to tell the history to those who didn’t live it.
I have had the good fortune to visit many of the battlegrounds both in Europe and the Pacific while trying to visualize what these brave souls did on our behalf. It is very taxing on my brain.
Take Iwo Jima for example. When our soldiers landed there they were dumped onto a beach filled with some kind of black ash and could barely walk, never mind run, around the Japanese fire coming from Mount Suribachi. The Japanese had had many years to fortify this place by digging holes and tunnels into the rock formations which gave them excellent cover and a perfect view of the beach.
The soldiers and Marines who were told to assault that mountain had no choice but to go ahead and kill or be killed. Many of them didn’t actually have that choice but they did it anyway.
There were several other islands in the Pacific that were fought for with equal vigor, while facing an enemy who truly believed, as some do today, that they were fighting on behalf of their Sun Goddess and if they were to die fighting it would be a good thing for them and their families.
The Japanese also were able to maintain what was called the Kamikaze Air Force made up of pilots whose only job was to crash their planes into American ships that were in the harbor attempting to bomb the Japanese positions. What a job! They did a tremendous amount of damage, took a lot of lives, and delayed the war for some time.
I certainly hope that their Sun Goddess was happy with the results. If not, what a waste of young lives on both sides.
When you stop to think about these things as I have done, read in detail about many of the various battles and see all the pictures that were taken at the time, you suddenly have a different attitude towards veterans and Veterans Day. I truly hope that this holiday remains and becomes even more important as the veterans themselves slowly disappear into the history books.
P.S. Watch for the eventual opening of our own WWII museum near the zoo.
