Saluting and appreciating all veterans past and present this Sunday.
Special love and hugs go out to "my vets". I wanted to say how much you mean to me and what an important role you play in my life everyday.
This is for my father and all his buddies!
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
The front side of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary.Official U.S. Army Photo
Veteran's Day for KidsA children's resource to explain the meaning of Veteran's Day.www.Kaboose.comVeterans DayEverything to do with Veterans Day items.Yahoo.comVeterans DayTribute to Veterans & Military Buddies, Benefits, Jobs, Newswww.military.com Military AdsVeterans Day Separating Military EX Military Jobs Military Spouse Find Military
Many Americans mistakenly believe that Veterans Day is the day America sets aside to honor American military personnel who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained from combat. That's not quite true.
Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor America's war dead. Veterans Day, on the other hand, honors ALL American veterans, both living and dead In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for dedicated and loyal service to their country. November 11 of each year is the day that we ensure veterans know that we deeply appreciate the sacrifices they have made in the lives to keep our country free.
Armistice Day To commemorate the ending of the "Great War" (World War I), an "unknown soldier" was buried in highest place of honor in both England and France ( (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe). These ceremonies took place on November 11th, celebrating the ending of World War I hostilities at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month).
This day became known internationally as "Armistice Day". In 1921, the United States of America followed France and England by laying to rest the remains of a World War I American soldier -- his name "known but to God" -- on a Virginia hillside overlooking the city of Washington DC and the Potomac River. This site became known as the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier," and today is called the "Tomb of the Unknowns."
Located in Arlington National Cemetery, the tomb symbolizes dignity and reverence for the American veteran. In America, November 11th officially became known as Armistice Day through an act of Congress in 1926. It wasn't until 12 years later, through a similar act that Armistice Day became a national holiday. The entire World thought that World War I was the "War to e nd all wars."
Had this been true, the holiday might still be called Armistice Day today That dream was shattered in 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe. More than 400,000 American service members died during that horrific war
Veterans Day In 1947, Raymond Weeks, of Birmingham Ala., organized a "Veterans Day" parade on November 11th to honor all of America's veterans for their loyal and dedicated service. Shortly thereafter, Congressman Edward H. Rees (Kansas) introduced legislation to change the name of Armistice Day to Veterans Day in order to honor all veterans who have served the United States in all wars.
In 1954, President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day, and called upon Americans everywhere to rededicate themselves to the cause of peace. He issued a Presidential Order directing the head of the Veterans Administration (now called the Department of Veterans Affairs), to form a Veterans Day National Committee to organize and oversee the national observance of Veterans Day. Congress passed legislation in 1968 to move Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October.
However as it became apparent that November 11th was historically significant to many Americans, in 1978, Congress reversed itself and returned the holiday to its traditional date.
Veterans Day National Ceremony At exactly 11 a.m., each November 11th, a color guard, made up of members from each of the military branches, renders honors to America's war dead during a heart-moving ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
The President or his representative places a wreath at the Tomb and a bugler sounds Taps. The balance of the ceremony, including a "Parade of Flags" by numerous veterans service organizations, takes place inside the Memorial Amphitheater, adjacent to th e Tomb.
In addition to planning and coordinating the National Veterans Day Ceremony, the Veterans Day National Committee supports a number of Veterans Day Regional Sites. These sites conduct Veterans Day celebrations that provide excellent examples for other communities to follow.
Veterans Day Observance Veterans Day is always observed on November 11, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls. The Veterans Day National Ceremony is always held on Veterans Day itself, even if the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday. However, like all other federal holidays, when it falls on a non-workday -- Saturday or Sunday -- the federal government employees take the day off on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday).
Federal government holiday observance (for federal employees, including military) is established by federal law. 5 U.S.C. 6103 establishes the following public holidays for Federal employees: New Year's Day, Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington's Birthday (President's Day), Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
This federal law does not apply to state and local governments. They are free to determine local government closings (including school closings) locally. As such, there is no legal requirement that schools close of Veterans Day, and many do not. However, most schools hold Veterans Day activities on Veterans Day and throughout the week of the holiday to honor American veterans.
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Forwarding an important message and testing my newsletter address file.
It is Memorial Time to honor those who had fought in World War II
and had defeated our enemies to preserve freedom for people
the world over.
The people in Europe, for example, is now enjoying peace for three
generations already with promises of many more generations to
come.
Had we lost the war in 1941 to 1945, you will now be speaking only
German or Japanese -- behind barbed wires --perhaps..
Bill
AIRBORNE VETERANS DAY CEREMONIES, ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY , NOVEMBER 9, 2007
The following prepared remarks were delivered by John Kormann, Colonel, AUS Ret., at the 17th Airborne Memorial Marker at Arlington Cemetery. Also present were two other surviving members, and the President of the Ladies Auxiliary :
Thank you for your presence today at this memorial service honoring the 1,480 paratroopers and glidermen of the 17th Airborne Division who were killed in the service of our country in World War II. Sadly, however, the number on this marker does not reflect the totality of the Division’s sacrifice, which when including the wounded, injured and missing in action numbered 6,292. For those of us who served with the 17th Airborne, it seems fate constantly reminds us of the great cost which was paid for our nation’s freedom. A number of years ago, I stood just beyond the McClellan Gate over there, when we buried with full military honors a highly decorated sergeant who had served with our division in the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. His remains were found in his foxhole in the thick Ardennes forest 55 years later. During that funeral, I stood next to his 57 year old son, a son whom the sergeant had never seen.
As our Association’s historian, I have had to answer letters from family members wanting to know about my comrades. I have had to write about the tragedies of war, tragedies of which our Division knew more than its share. I have had to tell how at Christmas in 1944, the 17th Airborne was thrust into the Battle of the Bulge to stop the onslaught of two German panzer armies. With light weapons they performed heroically against German Tiger tanks, taking many casualties in the snows and deep woods. The stand they made at “Dead Man’s Ridge†lives on in the military history of our nation.
On March 24, 1945, men of the 17th and the 6th British Airborne Divisions, totaling in number 17,500, were dropped across the Rhine River into the very heartland of Germany itself in “Operation Varsity.†Not much is said in the history books about this action, other than it was the most successful Allied airborne operation of the war. Coming so close to the end of that conflict as it did, however, there was a tendency to paper over what actually took place, and the heavy casualties. Landing on top of 85,000 waiting German troops, fighting for their homeland, the losses in killed alone on that day amounted to 1,070 men, while the number of wounded was well over 3,000. “Varsity†was the worst single day for the Allied airborne in World War II. Let me put this in perspective: The severity of “Operation Varsity†may be understood when compared to the much-heralded losses of the 20,000 man Marine Second Division, at Tarawa , where 894 were killed in three days of intense fighting.
During its relatively short, but violent life in combat, 65 days, the 17th Airborne served in three campaigns, taking average daily casualties almost double that of any other airborne division. (However, combat for other airborne divisions stretched over longer periods). Four of the 17th’s members received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the most of any airborne division in World War II. All were posthumous. As war in Europe drew to a close, what was left of the heroic 17th Airborne Division was deactivated, many of its members being sent to other airborne divisions. In recent years, however, our nation has chosen to remember the 17th Airborne Division by reactivating one of its combat regiments, the 507th Parachute Infantry, to act as the training unit for the U.S. Army’s Airborne School at Fort Benning , Georgia , and to serve as an inspiration to fledgling paratroopers.
So as we stand here in this time and place, let us, and let America , reflect with reverence and gratitude upon the sacrifices of the men of the 17th Airborne Division. Our Association, which this year has cased its colors, (we are in our middle eighties) deeply appreciates the opportunity to participate in these meaningful ceremonies. I say to you now, though our Association is no more, in coming years we will continue to be represented. Our thanks go to Colonel DeVries, the 82nd Airborne Division Association, The Reuben Tucker Chapter and all those who worked so hard to make these observances a reality. May God bless all those here today and may God bless our beloved country.
John Kormann, Colonel, AUS, Ret.
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
You will find, attached to this e-mail, several pics of memorials there are in the Vosges. Have a good visit....
I wish you all a great week,
Gerome
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
In case you didn't see this on another list, here is my current monthly newspaper column, that appeared in the Nov. 7 Arab Tribune (Arab, Alabama).
Fred Lanting, Willow Wood Consulting
Trib “Perspective†column by Fred Lanting, Union Grove, AL
Veterans Day 2007
Do you know what special day is coming up soon? Not a holiday in the original sense of being a “holy dayâ€, but one that nevertheless obliges a modicum of reverence and thanks. When I was a bit younger, we called it Armistice Day, a day that was set aside to commemorate the end of “the war to end all wars†and honor the veterans of that conflict.
Actually, it was a tentative laying down of arms rather than the official end of the war, since "armistice" means a cessation of hostilities while peace and reparation were negotiated. This agreement between the Germans and the Allies to end the World War was only one of several armistices, beginning in December 1917 with the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, and then Romania's Treaty of Bucharest, marking the end of the of battle on the Eastern Front. Bulgaria stopped fighting at the end of September 30, 1918. Turkey and Austria-Hungary (where the war was ignited) agreed to an armistice on October 30 and November 3, no longer having enough men and materiel to continue. Germany agreed to the most significant armistice early in the morning of November 11, to take effect before noon, on “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh monthâ€.
Germany was severely punished with the loss of many thousands of railroad locomotives and cars, and many other things needed in peacetime. Many Germans harbored hatred for the severity of reparations, and in a symbolic act of revenge, Hitler in 1940 forced the French to sign an armistice (surrender) on German terms. That armistice was formally signed in French Marshall Foch's railway carriage, the same one in which the 1918 strictures were laid down.
The November armistice initially ran for 30 days, with regular renewals until the formal peace treaty was signed at Versailles in 1919. What little that Germany had held onto at Brest was taken away by the annulment of those earlier treaties with Russia and Romania, and all German-occupied territories elsewhere were required to be given up.
We learned in the late 1930s that war had not been banished from society. The demonic madman who was principally responsible for the largest, most deadly conflict in history had started another war, this time truly worldwide, his initial success having encouraged Japan to attack at a militarily weak time in our history. Simultaneous war on two main fronts resulted in the deaths of about 73 million people, representing 3.7% of the population in the countries involved. Of that number, about 25 million were military, the rest being civilian casualties of action or famine and disease caused by the war. Hardest-hit may have been China and others in the East (nearly 4% of their population), Germany (11%), USSR (14%), Latvia and Lithuania (11 to 14%), and Poland (18.5%, with a substantial number of these 5 million being Jews collected from all over Europe and put into concentration camps there). U.S. battle deaths were over 292,000, mostly in the Army but thousands also in the Navy and Marine Corps. Others died later as a result of their wounds. Our civilian losses were very low compared to other countries.
Great loss was also suffered by those who survived, as for example in Germany alone, with 1,600,000 permanently disabled. Similar disabled-veteran and non-military percentage figures were seen in the other countries. All this is simply to remind us of the terrible costs of war. We will never be safe from such danger, for we will always have “wars and rumors of warsâ€.
And we will always need defenders such as the men and women in uniform whom I see every time I fly anywhere, more in some airports than others, but always in evidence. As much as I can, I tell each one of them, “Thanks for serving.â€
You may be against this current war, or war in general, and you might be naïve enough to believe that permanent peace this side of the grave is possible, but I urge you to express your gratitude to those whom you meet who are defenders of “liberty for all†(the word “all†hopefully including the poor blighted victims of other governments’ tyranny).
While it is not as easy to identify those veterans who aren’t wearing uniforms except for some ceremony on Veterans Day, let these vets also know that you appreciate their efforts in the past. Whether it’s a John Kerry-type or a John McCain POW-type veteran. Put politics aside, and say “Thank youâ€. Not just this week or on Memorial Day, but every chance you get.
One way of expressing thanks might be to pressure your Congressmen to support our vets better. My wife recently encountered a disabled WW2 vet (he had poor vision and damaged hearing from serving in tank warfare) who asked her to read the price on a grocery-store item to him. When he found out that he didn’t have enough in his pocket, he decided against it. In their conversation, she learned that he had exhausted his entire savings to pay for his late wife’s medical treatments, and that after having received disability payments for over three years, the government (VA or whatever was not ascertained) was revoking his eligibility and demanding thousands of dollars back. He had nothing in the bank, and would have to sell his house to comply. Is this how we must treat men who had put their lives on the line so we could have freedoms --- including those concerning what we can buy in the grocery store?
Don’t just thank a serviceman or a veteran — speak out for them!
p.s. There are a number of other concrete things you can do to say thank you. For example, Iraq casualty Army Sgt Ron Portillo has started a foundation to help get service dogs for wounded servicemen like himself (injuries require his big dog’s assistance in balance while standing and walking, and as a “hearing-aidâ€). See www.caninesforcombatwounded.org if you care to help in this way.
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
