Yes, thank a veteran

This week we are celebrating Veterans Day, and once again the Chamber hosted a great event at the courthouse to honor our local veterans.  The ceremony is the largest of its kind in the county, with over a hundred attendees each year.

We can never show enough appreciation to our country’s veterans.  Our veterans should get the utmost respect from her people, from the President of the United States all the way down to you and I.  Sometimes, however, that respect doesn’t come when warranted.

Veterans returning home from the Viet Nam War, fought mostly before I was born, were cussed at, spit at, protested against and made to feel unwelcomed by thousands of Americans. 

Protesters against the war held signs that said things like, ‘Respect our troops!  Bring them home now!’.  However, many of those same folks were the ones who heaved the most mistreatment upon the Viet Nam veterans.  Many of those protesters never picked up a weapon, nor stood a post.

For years, veterans of that southeast Asian war fought for God knows what stood in the shadows, nearly forgotten by their own countrymen and our leaders.  Finally, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the veterans joined together and rallied to be recognized equally with veterans of other wars.  The Vietnam War Memorial was started in 1982, additionally.  The moving Wall was recently on display in Yazoo City.

Some of our more recent veterans have felt the backlash endured by those from the Vietnam error.  Shamefully, the main stream media broadcasts images of protestors on our country’s streets who disrespect servicemen returning from Afghanistan, Iraq and other theatres of military action.  

We enjoy the freedom we have today, the air we breathe today, the ground up on which we so leisurely stride today because of yesterday’s sacrifices made by our military veterans.  Tell them ‘Thank you’.  Hug their necks.  Shake their hands.  Show your appreciation.