A couple walks through the American Cemetery near Manilla in the Philippines on Veterans Day, 2007. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
by Frank James
Today is Veterans Day 2007 which, because it’s camouflaged by a weekend this year, may go unnoticed by many.
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Nevertheless, it’s a day to be reminded of war’s sacrifices, especially by those who were under arms; those who returned from the front and those who didn’t.
Veterans Day of course started as Armistice Day and was meant to mark the end of World War I, the War to End all Wars, which colossally failed to live up to that billing.
We’re less idealistic now than at the start of the last century. We suspect that war is an unending fact of human life.
So there will be many more veterans as well as those who make the ultimate sacrifice.
With the campaign 2008 season upon us, it’s worth noting that veterans tend to vote more than non-veterans. That was true in the 2004 election presidential election according to Census data.
An examination of available data by Jeremy Teigen of Ramapo College suggests veterans tend to have higher turnouts than non-vets in most elections, with the exception of Vietnam-era vets.
So political candidates would be wise to treat every day as though it were Veterans Day.
U.S. soldiers pray at a war memorial during a Veterans Day ceremony at Camp Eggers Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)