Veterans Day 2023

Every year at Veterans Day I try to think of something new to mark the occasion.

It is well known at least among those who have served that Veterans Day started as a remembrance of the signing of the treaties that ended WWI and was known as Armistice Day. Later the name was changed to include and honor all who have served.

This is an important distinction. Far too many people confuse Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

Veterans Day honors all, those who gave some.

Memorial Day honors those lost: those who gave all.

 See more here:

Veterans Day 2023: Founding, Fact & Meaning

 

 

Each year a competition is held to choose a representative poster, this is the 2023 winner.

So, this year, if you have the day off or even if you do not, take just a moment to remember the Vets who have served this country for you and be grateful for their sacrifices.

Next time, on the 16th, we will revisit New Mexico, so meet me there, as usual, at 9:00 am.

To see additional Vietnam memorials from any state, please click a state name from the list on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here.

Veterans day 2018

I often try to write something on these momentous days in our history.  Today is veterans Day, which as I have written before, commemorates for most of us, the end to WWI.

Veterans Day marks the signing of the armistice, or treaty, that brought an end to hostilities after the first world War.

It's date and name, however, has been messed with over the years. Originally, November 11th, it has been changed to try to accommodate three day weekends or other changes thought to be good. Eventually it came back to the original day. It has, also, been called Armistice Day and Remembrance Day at one time or another.

As you read this, I will be in Arizona in a suburb of Phoenix, called Anthem.

Anthem has constructed a memorial that honors and commemorates all who have served in our armed forces. In fact, I have written about it before on this site. You can find that post if you click on Arizona to the left and scroll back a bit to find it.

What is different this year, is that I am going to witness a unique feature of the memorial as it actually happens.

The five stele representing the service of all branches of our military have had a hole drilled through each of them in such a way that it serves as a portal for the sun.

At 11 minutes after 11, on the 11th day of the 11th month, the sun pours through the openings to illuminate The Great Seal of the United States which is an integral part of the plaza surrounding the memorial which, usually, is in shadow created by the stele. But, for these few minutes at this time, on this day, in this month it shines brightly.

2018 is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the treaty ending the war that was supposed to have been "...the war to end all wars!"

I expect to encounter huge crowds this year, so I may or may not be able to actually photograph the event properly, but more important, to me, is to just be there.

I will keep you posted about my success here and in trying to capture a few more Vietnam memorials in the state.

Also. this is good place to remind you that Veterans Day honors all who have served, 57 million-ish.

Memorial Day, in May, honors those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, 1.1 million approximately.

Armed Forces Day, in May, honors those currently serving, 2 million give or take.

All of these numbers are approximations for a variety of reason.

So, today is about the end of WWI, or its about all who served, whichever, take a moment to remember the service and sacrifice of the very few.

Join me, next time in Wyoming for a post from a VA Medical Center, see you there, as always at 9:00am. on the 16th.

To see additional memorials from Arizona, or any other state, click on the state name on the left side of this page.

Arizona XI

Anthem, Arizona has a most beautiful and unique memorial. It is not specifically to Vietnam but we are remembered and included among the names honored on the plaza like area.

I did not visit on November 11th, but on the day I was there I met a really nice Canadian guy who was escorting a WWII vet to the site. We had a very long and friendly conversation about his service, mine, and Vietnam in general. It was a very special visit for me.

The following I took directly from a site about the memorial. It contains some of the ideas and story of the site. I could certainly do no better in telling the story.

In 2011, 97 years after the Armistice of World War I, we have the once in a century experience of adding the eleventh year.  The new Anthem Veterans Memorial in Arizona, a beautiful expression of astronomical time, will be dedicated today on 11.11.11.
Designed by Renee Palmer-Jones, it consists of five pillars in graduated heights, representing the five branches of the U.S. military.  At the top of each pillar is a large elliptical shaped hole, gathering sunlight downward through the five ellipses toward a mosaic of the Great Seal of the United States at the foot of the pillars.  Each year on November 11 at precisely 11:11 am, the shadows of the pillars will align into one column and the elliptical sunlight will form a perfect circle shining onto the Great Seal.

Installing the Great Seal at the Anthem Veterans Memorial, November 9, 2011
The design focus of this memorial is the astronomy of November 11, not an arrangement of names.  Yet arrangement principles inform our experience in Anthem.  The pillars are organized by Department of Defense order of precedence.  There are only five units, so this ordering is simpler than the British Army order of precedence used at Edwin Lutyens’ World War I Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in Thiepval, France.

Chronology forms the basic arrangement, giving precedence to the oldest units.  However, even with only five, there are two exceptions.  Three of the units were founded in 1775:  the Army (June 14), the Navy (October 13) and the Marines (November 10).  The Navy disbanded in 1781, only to be reinstated later the same year.  So it appears third, after the Marines.  The Coast Guard was founded in 1790, but it is now in fifth position as a part of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense.  If the Coast Guard returns to the Department of Defense during a war, it would stand between the Navy and the Air Force (1947).

The arrangement and graduated heights of Anthem’s five pillars display an order of precedence, but the equality of the services is also expressed in the placement of their seals at equal heights on the pillars’ narrow sides.  This equality carries through in the benches at the front of the memorial.  Although they are five in number, they are not individually designated with the name of a military unit.

The Anthem Memorial Planning Committee used the fund-raising technique of engraved brick pavers that can be purchased to honor military personnel or to show community support.  Pavers with military names form a Circle of Honor on the ground around the Great Seal and the pillars.  They are primarily organized chronologically by donation date.  Prior to placement, families can request to be grouped together, similar to the “meaningful adjacencies” of the World Trade Center memorial in New York.  Two rows of blank bricks surround the Circle of Honor in soldier row formation, the typical placement of headstones in military cemeteries.

Pavers representing the non-military support of individuals, businesses and organizations, are arranged by size of donation in front of the benches, with the largest donations at the center bench.  The next two funding tiers are at the left and right of the center bench, with the two end benches reserved for the fourth tier.  The pavers within each tier are in no particular order, although they aren’t quite random.  Liz Turner of the Memorial Planning Committee told me they tried to lay these bricks in a manner that was “aesthetically pleasing.”

In its use of astronomical time, the Anthem Veterans Memorial fully honors the historic tradition of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Its primary symbol is the gathering of sunlight onto the Great Seal of the United States at 11:11 on November 11.  Yet peripheral arrangement decisions add power to this memorial.  Those pillars could be in alphabetical order, but this is a memorial to history.  Order of precedence reflects that.

I would love, someday, to actually be there on November 11th. I'll let you know if that ever happens.

Next time, on the 8th, we will take another trip to California, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

To see other memorials from Arizona, or any other state, click the state name on the left side odf this page.

Maryland IV

Located at the Talbot County Court House, in Easton, under some trees is the local Vietnam memorial. Consisting of two standing markers, it depicts, on the left, a map of Vietnam and the names of the ten from the area who were lost. On the right, a soldier is cradling his dying buddy, while a chopper attempts to arrive in time.

Next time, on the 11th, Veteran's Day, join me in Massachusetts to honor the only memorial I have seen that honors Black soldiers. This one will post at the 11th hour to honor Armistice Day which we now know as Veteran's Day.

To see other memorials from Maryland, or any other state, click on the states name on the left side of this page.

Veteran's Day

This site, as you know, is dedicated to honoring Vietnam veteran's by visiting, photographing, and writing about memorials to the those who served. Today, however, it seems more than fitting to remember that we are not alone in our service. Our ancestors have earned the respect of us all through all the years of our history. And, now, our children fight in distant lands. They, too, shall be remembered.

Veteran's Day began as Armistice Day. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918 hostilities ceased (an armistice) in The Great War. The peace treaty was actually signed quite sometime later. In 1938 Armistice Day was made a federal holiday and later, after WWII and Korea the name was changed to Veteran's Day to honor all vets of all wars. There are more than 23 million American vets today.

You can find much more information about Veteran's Day here;

http://www.history.com/Topics/history-of-Veterans-day

I was in Richmond, Virginia and stopped to see the Virginia War Memorial. It is a magnificent site that honors all Veterans. I thought it would be good to include this wonderful site here, too. Expansion of the original 1956 site was just completed this last July. I had stopped by then but could not get any pictures or info as there was too much construction equipment, etc in the area. Today, it is nearly complete and one of the staff kindly showed me all around. The Vietnam portion of the lists of names is etched upon the glass wall of the Shrine of Memory, as it is called. The names from other wars are etched upon the facing stone wall. The statue is called "Memory" and she stands with The Torch of Liberty, an eternal flame, at her feet. She watches over the 11,634 names etched here for all time. The Torch represents "patriotism that is everlasting." The site, also, boasts a Flag Court and Rose Gardens. The Shrine is open 365 days a year with the auditoriums, visitor center and gift shops open 'til 4 pm. It is located on route 1 (621 Belvidere Street) just north of the Robert E. Lee Bridge.

You can find more information here;

www.vawarmemorial.org

I, also, visited Virginia Beach this week and came upon this beautiful memorial to all veterans. It is based upon the ideas of three local high school students who participated in a design contest. It depicts how the world is split by war, and how some pieces of our world, our selves (our humanity?) are lost forever. There are a number of flags, including U.S., Va., all Military Services flags, a special Tidewater Veteran's Flag. A POW/MIA Flag will fly until all are accounted for.

This memorial sits at 1000, 19th street, in Virginia Beach, Va.

There is much more information regarding the memorial at this site;

http://virginia-beaches.net/Attractions/veteran.htm


If you see a vet today, say "Thanks"