All this talk about whether or not Americans wear poppies for Remembrance Day causes me to write this. The answer is, No, not for Remembrance Day because it is now Veterans' Day, changed when I was a boy from Armistice Day. It's Remembrance Day everywhere else. Here in the States it's not so much associated with the horrors of the First War because the Americans had such a small part in it. If you were to believe American folklore about WWI, you would just think that it involved a lot of singing. The First War is best remembered by those who lost so many, by the Brits, the French, the Belgians, and I suppose the Canadians, although admittedly I'm a bit shaky on those connections. The point is, the US did little in that war and didn't have a huge memory to show for it.

Anyway, even though I'm a 21 year AF veteran, I only have one vestige of my uniform to show for it, my leather flying jacket with Air Intelligence Agency insignia and name/rank/wings patch. Still looks pretty spiffy. I wore it around at the parade, with my poppy attached above the name patch. People kept shaking my hand thanking me for my service, something that makes me really uncomfortable. I joined in the waning days of Vietnam, and NO ONE thanked you for your service. Instead, you donned civilian clothes and rushed through the airport trying not to be noticed. Today one's service is all volunteer, and our men and women know damn well what they're in for, but we still thank them for their service.

Along with their general thanks today, I got invited to the VFW for hot dogs and beer after the parade (I went and had a steamy hot dog with a cold hefeweizen), and to several different local pancake breakfasts tomorrow honoring the veterans here. I will attend the one at the local Weslyan church--only because I know right where that one is.

And this is the part that makes this comment on topic: How is it that the various churches here can come up with funds for pancake breakfasts open to the public when the Mormons can't come up with the sorry-ass amount to clean their own building? And now that I think about it, the Mormons were completely out of this Veterans' Day picture. Not even their Boy Scouts showed up in the parade.

Mormons not included.

The Vietnam vets can stand proud.........you survived a terrible time.

Congrats and Enjoy wearing your poppy

I couldn't find a poppy anywhere.

But the U.S. contribution was not negligible. It was U.S. grain and other foodstuffs, not to mention industrial output, that kept the British, French, and Belgian war machines going through much of the war.

When the American military did enter, it showed its inexperience (and, unfortunately ignorance and arrogance, a deadly combination) early on, but the doughboys did prove to be quick learners. Both the French and British armies had been bled white, and the American presence was the shot in the arm they needed. It's questionable whether the Allies could have finally stopped the last German offensive without the American presence. And the doughboys who fought their way through the Meuse-Argonne experienced as heavy and miserable fighting as any in the war.

In the space of a few months, the U.S. suffered as many casualties as it did in Vietnam over eight years.

Still, you're right; In the U.S. we have forgotten the debt we owe those doughboys. Their achievements have been overshadowed by the U.S. effort in WWII, which is understandable. But it's still too damn bad we don't wear poppies, too.

I-had-a-great-uncle-who-died-in-the-Great-War-ly yrs,

S

Corned Beef...you are an idiot.