Veterans Day

I was asked by school officials if I would speak to the Children about Veterans day.

These are K-1-2 graders.

What do you say to these small children that would help them understand?


There are plenty of veteran definitions.


But the one I like the most for the young children is:

What is a Veteran?
A veteran is defined by federal law, moral code and military service as "Any, Any, Any"... A military veteran is Any person who served for Any length of time in Any military service branch.
very antiseptic.


We could go the historic route

November 11th, what we now call "Veterans Day," was originally called Armistice Day. It celebrated the end of World War I, when the guns fell silent across the Western Front on the 11th day, on the 11th hour of 1918. It is not a day to celebrate war, but to celebrate peace--and remember those for fought and died for it. I want to take this opportunity, as a veteran, to remember and to help those who enjoy this hard-fought peace to understand.


Or we could go the real definition

"A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America' for an amount of up to and including my life. That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it."
This is a real veteran definition. One I can say I agree with.

But the children will not understand it.

Maybe I'll just say it was people like me who believed in what America stands for. So I put on a uniform to protect that belief.

Or something like that.


May God bless the American Service man in harms way and the veterans who have been there.