Veterans Day 2024: “humility”

I did not serve my country in military service.

Yet, for many years, I have developed a deep respect for our Veterans.

If I notice an older gentleman wearing a hat proclaiming their service in a branch of our military, I make a point of stopping to thank this man for his dedication.

In those brief seconds, the response is a humble smile and thank you.

I also note license plates that indicate a range of links to serving in the military. If I see Bronze Star or Purple Heart, I’m curious about the story behind this recognition.

With a Veteran, there is always a story. Quite often, the Veteran has little desire to share those stories.

My mother’s brother, Sam, was a tail gunner in World II. He was assigned to a bomber, the B-24. I was never allowed to ask Sam anything about his military time. I’ve read enough historical accounts about what those bombing missions were like to understand the reluctance to talk about those perilous flights over enemy territory.

This past year, I had the privilege to make a second visit to Pearl Harbor and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at the Punchbowl in Honolulu, Hawaii. Both places put into perspective, the horrors of war.

Additionally in May, my wife and I on our visit to New Orleans spent a day exploring and learning at the National World War II Museum. Every square inch of this museum was worthy of our time.

This quote from Private First Class Harry Parley, 116th Infantry Regiment, U. S. 29th Division caught my attention about D-Day and Omaha Beach: “As our boat touched sand and the ramp went down, I became a visitor to hell. I shut everything out and concentrated on following the men in front of me down the ramp and into the water.”

I can’t imagine the hell these young men experienced.

In July, I and three pals from college traveled to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the Experimental Aircraft Association annual air show and convention.

If you like airplanes, this is where you want to be. If it has wings and an engine, chances are that plane will be at Oshkosh. Annually, the airfields host 600,000 visitors and10,000 airplanes.

Many organizations and private individuals have worked diligently to restore and maintain planes from the World War II era.

One morning at breakfast, my friend Dan Callow and I had the privilege of talking with two of the Veterans who were part of the crew for one of the two B-29 bombers at the show. You might recall that the B-29 was the plane used to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.

I could have stayed for hours and peppered those two Veterans about their experiences flying the B-29. Knowing they had a full day of activities ahead of them, we thanked them for their service, and wished them well.

As respectful and appreciative as I am of our Veterans, I know many of them face challenges in their current day to day living.

For example, “the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD) estimates that 40,056 Veterans are homeless on any given night. Only 7% of the general population can claim veteran status, but nearly 13% of the homeless adult population are veterans.” (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans)

Mental health is another concern for Veterans.

Consider this data from an article appearing in The Conversation on November 7, 2024: “America’s military veterans make up about 6% of the adult population, but account for about 20% of all suicides. That means that each day, about 18 Veterans will die by suicide. In the U.S., the overall rate of suicide has largely increased since the start of the millennium, but Veterans are disproportionately represented among this tragic trend.”

Homelessness and death by suicide lead me to this quote from James Bradley’s book Flyboys.

Veteran Rowdy Dow, who was a gunner in a torpedo bomber, told author Bradley the following: “If we had given in to our fears, we wouldn’t have won that war. There were no replacements out there. Our country was depending on us and we were all ready to die for our country. There was a job to do. We did it.”

I’m not sure about your feelings, but I feel we have an obligation to support and take care of our Veterans. They were willing to die for America. They did their jobs. Why can’t we be better in meeting their housing and mental health needs?

I’m one lucky man.

Because of the sacrifices of the women and men who have served our country, I’ve been able to freely travel to Honolulu, New Orleans, and Oshkosh.

I cherish those trips with family and friends.

But since returning from New Orleans, I periodically go back and look at photos I took while at the National World War II Museum.

Inscribed on a large cut piece of stone, I keep coming back to this quote from Dwight Eisenhower: “Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.”

On this Veterans Day, and those in the years ahead, I pray we will never forget the humble humility of the countless sacrifices made by our Veterans to preserve our freedoms.

Too frequently and foolishly, we take these sacrifices and our freedoms for granted.

You, me, we, us can’t disregard humility.

“Humility must always be” an essential “portion” of our character.

Leaders who lack humility are blind to the struggles of real life.

And one last gentle reminder—any day is a good day to stop and thank our Veterans.