In 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the Great War ended. One year later, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed that date as “Armistice Day.” Wilson was hopeful that the observance would remind citizens of the horrors of WWI. It would help make that conflict the “war to end all wars.” Of course, as I and some 19.6 million living U.S. Veterans can attest, that dream remains an aspiration. Military service still safeguards America’s way of life. What we now call “Veterans Day” provides a continuing way to honor that sacrifice.
Personally I never tire of being thanked for my service. I also try to thank brave men and women who serve and have served. Our gratitude should extend to all active duty personnel, Reservists, members of the Guard and Veterans of all eras. Just a “thank you for serving” goes a long way. Fortunately, however, you can do even more on behalf of our Veterans.
Volunteering to serve those who have served. VA Voluntary Service (VAVS) offers all of us a chance to show our appreciation in action. If you can, I encourage you to explore how you can support patients and staff at a VA program or nearby facility. For example, you might be interested in the VA programs that are part of President Obama’s United We Serve. Even if you cannot spare time to volunteer, you can make a very welcome donation to a VA facility.
Meanwhile, a quick way you can honor today is to print out our 2015 Veterans Day poster. It’s this year’s winner in our national poster contest. Over the next few days, I will be talking about more ways to thank America’s Veterans.
In addition to volunteering opportunities, the VA also offers a wide variety of career positions in many different areas. Interested? Join VA today.
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Good job on this story.
As a vet I have seen much and heard much about what veterans day means, But realy all I see is a lot of vets with no jods, living on the streets with no hope of it ever changing. I look around me and see our country’s roads and bridges falling apart, but we can’t find the money to fix them. But we can send thousands of dollals to help other country’s rebild their homes and roads. If we put this money to use it here in our own country we could put thousands of veterans to work to rebuild our roads and bridges and these vets would be able to live in homes, or apartments without a hand out from the government. Its been over 50 years since the vietnam war and we are still punishing the men and women who fought that war. The government took us from our jobs and sent us to fight an unpopular war and when we came back we could not get jobs in our own cities and towns.