Friday, November 11th is Veterans Day and honors those that served our country in peace and war under a flag that stands for freedom, justice and democracy. They defended a way of life like no other.
My son Ben is in his second year of retirement from the United States Air Force. We are very happy to have him and his family home after 24 years of service and 4 years at the United States Air Force Academy.
Together we joined a veteran’s organization in 1990 when he was 16 and I kept up his membership current during the 28 years he was away. More than that, my keeping his membership up came out of an unspoken desire to have him do what he needed to do in his career and come home safely.
That is part of the legacy of military service. Families, especially the mothers during a war, find no end to their suffering until their children come home and are alright. Unless we have been ravaged by it, when we think of war we tend to take it as an epic event where one country defeats or dominates another. That is the way history seems to record these things.
That is the way, for example, many of us that follow the developments in Ukraine tend to see war. We want to think of the glory of it all rather than understand that war diminishes everyone.
I know that the media makes extraordinary efforts to bring the human side of war through the stories of people displaced, dying or about to die. The moments of awareness however, come and go unless those far away stories come home and do happen to us as well.
There have been wars and battles that because they were scenes of widespread bloodshed and human suffering so close to home have left a stain on our humanity. The American Civil War was one where the blood of brothers was on each other’s hands.
I saw a recent paranormal documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg that resulted in over 51,000 casualties including more than 7,000 dead. The documentary was in part about those dead (veterans?) that still do not know they are dead and are roaming the battlefield looking to continue the fight.
The legacy of military service for Latinos is a mixed bag of pride and prejudice. World War II was a time for abundant sacrifice as my parents remember the cries of grief for the dead warriors from their neighborhoods was almost nonstop. For those that came back alive, the world continued as before with the air of discrimination making their sacrifices in battle look meaningless. Yet the legacy of their military service also impelled them to organize and carry out a struggle for civil rights.
Today, the scars of military service are most evident in those that fought in Vietnam and came home to the jeers from those against the War and those that felt that we had lost. An ungrateful nation tarnished our military for a generation.
The legacy of military service to our veteran community includes the tendency on part of the country to overlook the long-term effects of that service particularly in war zones. We need to remind ourselves that broken bodies and minds represent a lifetime challenge for the community.
November 11th celebrates our veterans and their sacrifice for our way of life and what is most sacred. Please take the time to thank them for their service.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of la Voz bilingüe. Comments and responses may be directed to news@lavozcolorado.com.
