On this date in 1918, the eleventh day of the eleventh month, an armistice ended the Great War. We now call that war World War One because the next war - World War Two - was even bigger.
Since then we have celebrated the day as Veterans' Day, when we honor those who served our country in uniform. We owe those men and women more than we know.
I had family in the military. My dad's brother was a West Pointer who retired an Army Colonel. My father enlisted in the field artillery, and mustered out as a First Lieutenant. Two of my mother's brothers served in the Army Air Corps. Her sister was a WAC who married a former sailor after both demobbed.
As a young person, one of my hobbies was World War Two history. A bookish kid, I read lots of memoirs of the war, written by generals, and war correspondents.
A blown rotator cuff kept me out of the service. I begrudge our veterans none of the perks we provide them, their service was and is essential and much appreciated.
