As hard as it might be to imagine, we still have three years to go before we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World Catastrophe, which they called The Great War back then. The machine guns and artillery pieces didn't go (almost) quiet until 11 a.m. November 11, 1918. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the saying went. Although a state of war would still exist for months after the formal signing as military commanders made grabs for land along the lines.
"The Great War." What overconfidence man has when he applies such labels. As if a larger, more deadly, more all-encompassing war wasn't in the near future. Which is why the Great War is now remembered as the First World War, and Nov. 11th is no longer Armistice Day, but Veterans Day. To celebrate all veterans, not just those who served as doughboys.
It's hard to imagine that we still have three years to go before the centennial because World War One seems so much longer ago, doesn't it? Armies were still fighting on horseback then. Tanks were in their infancy and could barely move as fast as a man could walk. Commanders were still ordering units to charge across open fields, as if the enemy still fired muskets. Instead, those infantry units faced rapid-firing and deadly accurate machine guns and were slaughtered by the thousands. The attacks of poison gas were so awful and left military types so unnerved that even the butchers who oversaw much of the fighting in the next war didn't use it.
Three more years until November 11th, 2018. Three more years before the centennial.
Hard to imagine.
A happier story goes like this, and some of the details might even be true: The president of the United States--at the time his name was Woodrow Wilson--invited a few thousand veterans of the Great War to the White House for a meal.
They might not have called them photo-ops at the time, but they still had them. And the president of the United States was also a former president of a university. He knew from politics.
At the time, folks were learning new ways to can food for long-term storage. If you thought the microwave made cooking easier a few years back, imagine the first time that Mother took meat out of a can. No slaughtering, no skinning, no mess. What a change that must've been. And in 1919, when the doughboys were visiting the White House on what they still called Armistice Day, one particular dish was all the rage. In one bite you could get meat, dairy, grain and your veggies. The main course was . . . .
Ravioli.
Yes, the stuff of children's Saturday lunches, Ravioli in a can, was what's for dinner. Back then, it wasn't just an easy meal that all the picky kids at the table would eat. It was special. And how American a meal at that! It was every bit as American as chop suey or tacos, sauerkraut or French wine, bangers or borscht.
So the president and his guests, with ravioli all around, celebrated the one-year anniversary of Armistice Day in 1919.
Today we call it Veterans Day.
November 11th shouldn't be confused with Memorial Day, although sometimes it is. Memorial Day celebrates those who died serving this country. And a special day that is, and should always be. Today, however, we celebrate everybody who wore the uniform. And can be thanked in person. And should be.
Somebody in your neighborhood might have brushed sand off his MRE in Iraq back in 2003. Somebody at your church might have brushed sand off his MRE at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1983. Those folks should be thanked.
There might be a member of the National Guard in your family who served in the 1980s, and never saw combat. Then again, you might have a Marine in your family who went to war three times. They should be thanked.
You might work with a woman who flew helicopters over Afghanistan. Or you might work with a man who flew helicopters over Alabama. Today we recognize them all.
It's too bad that the first time many folks will think about today's holiday is when the mail doesn't come. Or maybe when they see the Bank Closed sign. Today shouldn't just be a day off for government workers.
But in a way it's their own fault--the veterans--that this holiday is much quieter and isn't given the due of a New Year or Fourth of July or even a Valentine's Day. The country is just so . . . . secure. Thanks to those veterans. The enemy is still out there, and always looking for an easy target, but there's not much danger of his invading this country and planting a flag.
Once upon a time, people in this country feared such a thing. At several points in the last century, starting not long after the Great War gave way to an even greater one, people in this country very much feared such a thing.
Today we celebrate all those who kept that from happening. And we get the feeling they wouldn't trade a quiet salute and a thank-you for firecrackers and hoopla anyway.
Editorial on 11/11/2015