Reader Responds to ‘Did you know Veterans Day was once called Armistice Day’ (Nov. 8 issue)

Image used for illustration purposes. – Courtesy photo

Isn’t it amazing that two words can have great significance?  Veterans Day. [These words] engage the mind with images of gallant soldiers tested by war – and then living for the rest of their lives honored by a thankful nation for their heroic sacrifices. Glorious.

It’s no wonder that for so many young men and women, there is nothing worthier than to be celebrated in life and honored in death as a veteran.

Armistice Day, on the other hand, emerges in the mind as a dull image of old men sitting around a table negotiating terms of peace to end a war.  How boring.

Well, Kurt Vonnegut, among other famous men, was a WWII veteran who witnessed the horrors of war and said:  “Armistice Day was sacred — Veterans Day is not.”  And who can contradict him?  Peace indeed is sacred – war is a curse.

Rory Fanning, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, said: “Armistice Day was a hallowed anniversary because it was supposed to protect future life from future wars.”

Perhaps Armistice Day should have been retained, if only to discredit the glitter and glamour of war which so often acts as a magnet to the impressionable young.

– David Q

MONROVIA

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