No Veterans Day
Okay, I'm not sure what's causing the media and every swingin' dick on the street to gush embarrassingly over Veteran's Day this year, but I'm a veteran and I've had enough of it. Here's the truth about "Veteran's Day".
Originally called Armistice Day, it commemorated the end of World War I -- and therein lies a sorry tale of a French asshole and hundreds of needlessly killed Allied soldiers and Marines. It's a long and involved tale, but the gist of it is this: the Germans had agreed to terms of surrender by 5 a.m. on 11 NOV 1918, but Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the aforementioned French asshole in overall command of Allied forces, thought that it would be a really neat idea if the armistice took effect at 11 a.m. instead of being announced immediately -- the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. He ordered that no one breathe a word of it to subordinate commanders until much later in the morning.
Consequently, a number of assaults were launched by Allied troops on the morning of November 11th, after the Germans had already agreed to terms. After the war, several men testified in front of a Congressional investigative committee that even as word of the armistice started to leak out by mid-morning, some commanders deliberately chose to launch assaults against the Germans in an attempt to "pad their records" with military gains before the war ended.
So call it what you like, but all I see is the dubious legacy of a French asshole. If the disingenuous jackals in the mainstream press, the opportunistic managers of fast food chains, and the never-miss-a-trick right wing radio hosts really want to show their appreciation for military personnel, they should take Memorial Day more seriously, as it honors the most important among us: those who did not make it back.
Read more about the tragedy of Armistice Day here.
Originally called Armistice Day, it commemorated the end of World War I -- and therein lies a sorry tale of a French asshole and hundreds of needlessly killed Allied soldiers and Marines. It's a long and involved tale, but the gist of it is this: the Germans had agreed to terms of surrender by 5 a.m. on 11 NOV 1918, but Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the aforementioned French asshole in overall command of Allied forces, thought that it would be a really neat idea if the armistice took effect at 11 a.m. instead of being announced immediately -- the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. He ordered that no one breathe a word of it to subordinate commanders until much later in the morning.
Consequently, a number of assaults were launched by Allied troops on the morning of November 11th, after the Germans had already agreed to terms. After the war, several men testified in front of a Congressional investigative committee that even as word of the armistice started to leak out by mid-morning, some commanders deliberately chose to launch assaults against the Germans in an attempt to "pad their records" with military gains before the war ended.
So call it what you like, but all I see is the dubious legacy of a French asshole. If the disingenuous jackals in the mainstream press, the opportunistic managers of fast food chains, and the never-miss-a-trick right wing radio hosts really want to show their appreciation for military personnel, they should take Memorial Day more seriously, as it honors the most important among us: those who did not make it back.
Read more about the tragedy of Armistice Day here.
posted by Jar(egg)head at 12:34
2 Comments:
I had no idea. I always mistakenly thought of "Vetrans Day" as a day to celebrate our veterans and their sacrifices, much like Memorial Day. What an eye-opener of a history lesson! Thank You.
I think it is a bunch of phony patriots, who denigrate and insult this country 362 days out of the year (Memorial day, Independence day, and vet day the only exceptions) to show how "patriotic" they are, instead of showing respect to our veterans by following the guiding principals they fought for.
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