News

Editorial: Remember our veterans

By Scott Wagar

02/14/2012

American writer, Cynthia Ozick, once stated about our country’s soldiers and veterans, “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”

That is a strong, profound true statement by Ozick, especially in this day and age where our soldiers are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and very little gratitude has been gifted to them for their sacrifices in our freedoms.

I’m not saying that we as Americans have forgotten the soldiers now coming home. Local individuals, community groups and military organizations have done a great job in remembering the soldiers of these modern wars. However, when you look back at some of the soldiers of war past, they were granted a heroes welcome home by large numbers of U.S. citizens for the feats they did on the battle field. When one compares it today, it isn’t the same as back then. Today as present day soldiers come home, they enter back into life as civilians somewhat quietly, and are only given recognition on a unique day like Veteran’s Day, and even then, for the most part, civilians do not hold celebrations for our veterans, the veterans are primarily forced to do it themselves because very few civilians make the effort.   

In recent months, I have watch such war documentaries as “Restrepo” and “The Battle for Marjah,” which are about today’s soldiers, their lives in a modern day war zone and their time after war. I have also been given the opportunity to interview a number of soldiers who have returned home and learned of their lives in combat and their time of becoming civilians once again. And quiet frankly, war was difficult for them, and their return home almost invisible by most local people they live amongst.

Throughout these films, and my interviews, the word gratitude has obtained a new meaning to me. What these men and women have gone through in war is truly impossible to write about because words cannot describe what they lived through, or how their lives have changed coming home again. And, because of this, I feel that our veterans should be granted not only our highest gratitude, but our complete attention. They shouldn’t be forgotten because we are too busy in our lives doing things that are not really that important; they should be remembered and appreciated first and foremost at all times.

On March 6, our city and county leadership will be signing a proclamation for one of our most forgotten war heroes and veterans, the women veterans. Thanks to Bottineau County’s veterans outreach organization, the city and county will be recognizing the month of March as National Women Veterans Awareness Month. The outreach group has planned an event and is hoping to bring a good number of individuals to the ceremony to recognize the women of our city and county in their military duty. And, I would encourage everyone on that day to stop what they are doing, no matter what is going on, and attend this proclamation signing. The American poet, Maya Angelou, said it best about all veterans, male and female, “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!”  So, please make the effort on March 6 to remember all women veterans who live in our presence.

And one cannot forget our wounded soldiers who have come back from Iraq, Afghanistan, and, all other wars. They hold the wounds of their service to our country on their bodies openly, and, within their mind and hearts. I often think of J.R. Martinez, the wounded veteran who won “Dancing with the Stars” in 2011. He, and so many like him, carry the evidence of war and what combat can do to an individual. And, these veterans are often walked right by each day in our country by civilians without any care for them, even they gave a great piece of themselves for our freedoms.
When I see these veterans, I often think about the America poet, Walt Whitman, who worked in a military hospital and cared for the wounded soldiers of the Civil War. In his poem, The Wound-Dresser, Whitman wrote, “I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young, some suffer so much…”

Remember our soldiers are important and we should make every effort to do more for them. We should attend their recognition ceremonies, fight more for their rights as veterans, care for their wounds the best way we can and simply celebrate the greatness they are for the noteworthy efforts they have done for us.