Life as performance art

By Fr. G. Corwin Stoppel

Fr. G. Corwin Stoppel

When I was growing up my aunts always called it “Armistice Day.” In the United Kingdom and most of the Commonwealth, it is “Remembrance Day” and here it is “Veteran’s Day.”

It’s the same solemn day, but with different names, and always observed at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month. That was the hour the guns along the Western Front finally went silent after four years of what we have come to call World War I. What was supposed to be the “war to end all wars” had ended.

In this country, Veterans Day almost seems like the poor cousin of our trio of patriotic holidays.

We turn out in droves for Memorial Day at the end of May because it’s the unofficial start of summer. The Fourth of July is just plain fun—the way President John Adams hoped we would observe it, complete with parades, a time of celebration, patriotic music and concluding with fireworks.

But Veterans Day, usually on a cool, gray November day, gets treated like an afterthought in this country. It is a pity we are so casual about it.

Two of my uncles were Doughboys in 1917 and 1918, and both were fortunate to come home. Another uncle and my father were in World War II and also returned home safely.

None of them ever said much about the experiences in uniform, other than my dad smiling when he would talk about how he’d met the woman who would become my mother at a USO dance.

I don’t recall any of them ever attending the Veterans Day ceremonies, either. But I think I finally figured it out.

When the service men and women came home to what my Canadian friends call “Civvy Street,” they wanted to get on with their lives. There was an interrupted education to be completed and work to be done. Sometimes they had to swallow hard and accept the fact that they couldn’t always fulfill their pre-war dreams.

My dad had wanted to go into commercial radio, but other men had been discharged earlier and there wasn’t room for him at Brown Radio Institute in Minneapolis.

Instead, he and his brothers went into business and started collecting real estate. They built up their businesses and homes, raised their children and got on with life.

Tom Brokaw describes them as “The Greatest Generation” and he is right—they made modern America what it is today.

More than anything else, says Brokaw, it was the self-discipline, self-sacrifice and leadership soldiers learned that made this such a great nation. No sacrifice was too great when it came to building this country, looking after family and friends, and simply doing the right thing.

What makes Veterans Day unique is that we are not only remembering the past and honoring those who gave their lives for the freedom we enjoy today, but we have the opportunity to recognize and express our gratitude to those who have served. It’s a chance to connect with the living history of those who served in World War II, as well as to let younger veterans know their service and sacrifice are truly appreciated.

This year’s local observance was held Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. in front of the monument in the park in downtown Saugatuck. We were honored to honor our veterans and to remember what they have given us and to the nation as a whole.