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We’ve called it Veterans Day for now over 50 years but I know today as Armistice Day. I know it from the French soldier’s engraving on the 105mm howitzer shell that my Great Aunt Harriet brought back from rhe war; The Great War.
Aunt Harriet is the only veteran of combat I have known well. She and her nursing classmates at Louisville’s Norton’s Infirmary, graduated early in 1918 and shipped to France. She served as a surgical nurse in a field hospital which would now be called a MASH unit. She returned to march in the victory parade down New York’s Fifth Avenue.
As a pre-teen during World War II I learned from her the confusing concept that the mutilated German solidiers were no different in their needs and rights to compassionate care than the French, Brit and even U.S. soldiers. It was from her that I first learned the equally confusing concepts of pacifism and the immorality of glorification of war.
Would that all of our combat veterans return transformed to renounce violence and to serve the oppressed. Soon there would be no more "Universal Soldiers." *
And PTSD might be laid to rest once and for all.
I will wear poppies today and reflect.
*Universal soldier
"He’s five foot-two, and he’s six feet-four,
He fights with missiles and with spears.
He’s all of thirty-one, and he’s only seventeen,
Been a soldier for a thousand years.He’a a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain,
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew.
And he knows he shouldn’t kill,
And he knows he always will,
Kill you for me my friend and me for you."
Complete lyrics here:
http://www.lyricsdomain.com/4/donovan/universal_soldier.html
10 Comments
Armistice day was set up to remember how bad WWI really was so it wouldn’t happen again. HA HA HA HA HA
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
* to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
* to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
* to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
* to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS
* to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
* to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
* to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
* to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS
…………………….
All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force
What part of this doesn’t our Government understand? Almost all of it.
I doubt that of our 535 members of Congress if they had read that either would disagree with what it says, or make excuses why we can’t live by it.
Does 911 give you a hint of the excuse the’ll give.
911 made the Constitution, our laws, international law, and even right and wrong not mean anything because we had to get the guys that did that.
We haven’t got them, but used that excuse to just do as we damn well pleased not only overseas, but here on our soil and to our people.
Even in our last election we heard 911, more than we did anything else.
I’m suprized they didn’t say the housing and banking crisis’s were the fault of 911, and they can’t afford healthcare because of 911, and our debt and deficits are because of 911.
They have killed twice as many of our people since in the wars, countless people in other countries, and many our our people because of the neglect of our people because of the wars.
Will the American people ever wake up, I doubt it it’s hard to raise the brain dead.
Don’t you know how uncool it is to be seen talking to me? :)
What I don’t really understand is why these statements are not known by progressives. The UN Charter ought to be just about the most famous document in the world and that is the core of it right there. It’s clear, it’s simple, it’s good. Yet, when I talk about war someone will say the Iraq or Afghan war was legal and they have no clue about how the charter is worded.
Even Glenn Greenwald tried to argue that the Iraq war was legal. (And then he banned me for arguing with him) The wording is very simple, very clear. Did the US settle its dispute with Iraq or with the Taliban peacefully? Or did they make threats? Or did they use force?
Because the media lies so well with the “big lie” by talking up all sort of non-existent rules, people just assume it is complicated. Surely they say to themselves, it must be a complex matter as there is so much talk. Just a tiny amount of knowledge would save them from being captured by these lies. Just a tiny amount of modesty would allow them to learn this knowledge from someone like me who does happen to know. Then they could tell others.
I believe if progressives were educated in simple every day things about their country, about their history, about the UN, about other countries and about their founding fathers a lot of the trouble the country is in and causes others would be very much harder to commit. Yes it’s a lot to learn but let’s face it we all sit here for years just reading stuff. I know I could have earned 3-4 degrees in the same time.
I know that you agree with me on the topic of the war to some extent, but on others you disagree with me. I suggest to you that the difference is that you haven’t learned the facts and background on those topics where you disagree. I accept that you might take another view and I would suggest as I have with others, that the best way to determine who is right is to martial facts and reasoned arguments. But that never happens. Just about never. The result is you probably are quite confused about me because although everything I say and do is 100% consistent, to you it can’t seem that way.
People’s minds are not really designed to think things through but to take short cuts by finding authority figures they can trust. That’s an efficient way of making decisions. It’s a good environmental adaption. But it makes people quite vulnerable to dishonest leaders. How then can you know that your views are correct? If people cannot engage views they disagree with and accept that they must establish their own views through debate then they cannot escape from a potentially false message.
Therefore if you wish to have an assurance of your own knowledge you must seek out and engage those who might disagree. That is simply the best way to determine truth with a human brain (well, two brains). I find nobody does this. As a contrarian, as an iconoclast fully capable of articulating and defending my own views as well as criticising the conventional wisdom I ought to be in high demand. Instead I am censored and ousted again and again.
Why is that?
I hear progressives talking about the Overton Window, a theory which predicts that to drag the debate in the country to the left, progressives need to find and boost their own lefty extremists of which I am obviously an example. Do I get boosted by progressive blogs? No, I am attacked. minimised, censored and banned. As predicted by the theory this drives the progressives to the right.
Why do progressives do that?
It is to FDL’s shame that I am put on moderation and to the shame of its regular that they have conspired to get me banned and to oust me in various ways. (It’s not unusual but it is shameful)
At any rate I appreciate that you didn’t try to throw any little barbs at me there. Do you want to ask me a question?
TalkingStick
John McCrae in WW1 wrote…”In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row”. Now there are poppy fields growing row on row in Afghanistan and NATO soldiers kill to protect them. The world is run by mad men who profit from war. Many returning soldiers do renounce the violence. The Universal Soldier is waking up. Thousands have gone AWOL and now they are being offered a clean record if they go back and fight. Many of these soldiers are saying no. I hope your Aunt was able to have a good life. Her memories of the horrors of war injuries that she dealt with must have been difficult to deal with. The importance of nurses doesn’t get mentioned much and neither does this group of veterans.
*********
“The famed Navajo Code Talkers, the elite Marine unit whose unbreakable code stymied the Japanese in World War II, fear their legacy will die with them.
Only about 50 of the 400 Code Talkers are believed to be still alive, most living in the Navajo Nation reservation that spans Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Many are frail or ill, with little time left to tell the world about their wartime contribution.
But on Wednesday, 13 of the Code Talkers are coming to New York City to participate for the first time in the nation’s largest Veterans Day parade.
The young Navajo Marines, using secret Navajo language-encrypted military terms, helped the U.S. prevail at Iwo Jima and other World War II Pacific battles, serving in every Marine assault in the South Pacific between 1942-1945. Military commanders said the code, transmitted verbally by radio, helped save countless American lives and bring a speedier end to the war in the Pacific theater. ”
http://www.military.com/news/article/navajo-code-talkers-to-join-vets-parade.html
Thank you so much butterfly..
I do know of the Navaho code talkers. My family roots are in Oklahoma. Though I am not Native American I have a lot of in laws who are.
This great aunt was my most important mentor as a pre-teen. It was during the hysteria of WWII and I realize much of what I learned from her was from example. As you would know medical people deal with a lot of horror from all causes and her nursing in this country was first to the coal miners during the union struggles then to children in the pre-antibiotic era. The irrationality of the intentional maiming and murder as its source not so much extent.is what sets war apart.
What a life she lived. The power of one to do good for others certainly resided within her. Did she ever write about her life? We have endless volumes of history, but little of ‘hertory’.
.
No she didn’t do a memoir but if I live long enough I will. I have just completed a family history book about one of my lines. In doing that history I discovered some of the best sources of biographical information are grandchildren and in this case grand-niece.. Precise accuracy may suffer slightly but certainly the tone and character is authentic. or as you say the “history.”
Of course the exact opposite is true. There are endless volumes about women qua women but virtually none about men qua men. The 99.99% of men who are not the kings and generals don’t get mentioned by “history” or “herstory”.
The scary thing is your revisionist history ranks right up there with anything presented by ANY government anywhere. It is so ludicrous as to be beyond laughable. And the sad thing is, I’m sure you believe your own tripe.