Honoring Our Heroes
To the millions who have always been there to stop the tyrant, protect the weak and preserve the peace — we have not forgotten you.
Yesterday was Veterans Day. The day originally began as Armistice Day to mark the 11:00 AM ceasefire on November 11, 1918, that ended World War I. In 1954 Congress renamed Armistice Day as Veterans Day to honor the veterans of all our wars.
Sadly, we are living in an era of increasing hostility toward America. A false narrative has taken root on our college campuses. We are teaching our children not American history, but anti-American history.
We are teaching that our nation is an evil, oppressive force, founded on slavery and genocide. No wonder growing numbers of young Americans do not describe themselves as patriotic.
Increasingly, the values that used to unite us now divide us. Monuments to our founding fathers are under attack. Even the Pledge of Allegiance is protested and denounced as “an instrument of white nationalism.”
Of course, our veterans know better. They understand that America is a force for good in the world, that it is worth defending, that it is, as Abraham Lincoln once described it, “the last best hope of Earth.”
Please find an opportunity to talk to your children and grandchildren about what happened at Concord Bridge and Gettysburg, on the beaches of Normandy and, more recently, in the deserts of Iraq and in the mountains of Afghanistan.
There is a poem you have likely seen before, but I want to share it with you again, because it summarizes well what we owe our veterans.
It is the veteran, not the preacher,
who has given you freedom of religion.It is the veteran, not the reporter,
who has given you freedom of the press.It is the veteran, not the poet,
who has given you freedom of speech.It is the veteran, not the protester,
who has given you freedom to assemble.It is the veteran, not the lawyer,
who has given you the right to a fair trial.It is the veteran, not the politician,
who has given you the right to vote.It is the veteran, who salutes the Flag,
who serves under the Flag, whose coffin is draped by the Flag.
To the millions who have always been there to stop the tyrant, protect the weak and preserve the peace — we have not forgotten you. A grateful nation thanks God for giving us heroes like you.
