Veterans Day summons devotion

Veterans Day and its older sibling, Memorial Day, are days of ambiguity and paradox for devotees of the peace and justice movement.

On one hand, we want to join in commemorating the sacrifices so many Americans have made on our behalf. But it is also true that our presence on such days causes discomfort to some, and I can understand why.

I had the honor of participating in a soldiers commemoration here a couple of years ago, only to find out later through the grapevine that some folks objected to my participation. Perhaps our presence spreads doubt at a time when certainty feels like a necessity. “Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do,” we seem to say, even though we have left our banners and signs of war protest in the car and are observing respectful silence during the 21-gun salute.

But I’d like to suggest that it is precisely in the face of doubt that we must recognize and acknowledge what our veterans have endured, and why. Today, as I write these words, a poll by ABC News and The Washington Post indicates that 60 percent of Americans believe that President Bush lied in order to make the case for the invasion of Iraq. New evidence has emerged recently that intelligence was similarly distorted regarding the so-called Gulf of Tonkin incident, which led to the deepening U.S. involvement in Indochina.

Surely, in such circumstances we have to say to those who served, “We know what you meant to be doing, what values you believed to be serving,” whatever our take on the real reasons for the conflict that involved them. Then it is also a right and fitting tribute to the fallen to point an unwavering finger at those who have abused, for their own benefit or whatever benighted purpose, the willingness of these Americans to give “the last full measure of devotion.”

In the original resolution establishing Armistice Day, the United States Congress said, “It is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date [November 11] should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.”

It’s an excellent idea, and one that deserves revival.

After WWII and Korea, in 1954 Dwight D. Eisenhower changed the name of the day to Veterans Day, and he changed the focus somewhat: “On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us re-consecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.”

Note that Eisenhower left in the part about peace. President Bush says that we have to remain in Iraq so that the deaths so far “shall not have been in vain” –but escalating violence in Iraq tells us that “staying the course” does exactly the opposite of “promoting an enduring peace” by perpetuating chaos.

I’m not advocating a cut and run, though I do join in the call for an immediate withdrawal of troops. I would bring in at least as many civilian volunteers to take their places. Not unarmed troops or contractors or even missionaries, just normal civilians who know how to build houses, care for the sick and feed the hungry.

I hear your thought: “They’d get slaughtered.” This brings us to another ambiguity of Veterans Day. We may feel we’re not represented, that we don’t really have a connection to this day. But we do.

From Marla Ruzicka and Rachel Corrie on back through the veterans and martyrs of the civil rights movement and all of American history, we can point to people from our ranks who were willing to give that last full measure. What we need is more of those people.

Let me be properly understood. Until we who stand for peace are as willing as soldiers to put our very lives on the line, until the humanitarian organizations are as willing as armies to sustain casualties without retreating and until society recognizes such sacrifice with the same reverence as it now shows its military fallen, we will never create the world that we want.

For more on Marla Ruzicka, visit www.amedalformarla.us, which suggests that she deserves to be awarded the Medal of Freedom and/or the Congressional Gold Medal for her sacrifice in Iraq. There is a memorial website for Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, at www.rachelcorrie.org.

I ask you to participate in your local Veterans Day observances on Friday, November 11, and then on Monday start hounding your state and federal legislators to provide adequate funding for veterans’ needs. Check with your county government to find out what they’re doing on the local level. And check out Fisher House ((www.fisherhouse.org)), one of many non-profits working to address veterans’ issues.

Skip Mendler’s column is published bi-weekly by The River Reporter. A resident of Honesdale, PA, Mendler can be contacted at smendler@care2.com.