We should do right by our vets

On June 28th, 1914 Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and wife were assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist. Germans wanted to defend Austrians, Russians wanted to defend Serbians, the French had promised to help the Russians. Germany marched through Belgium to attack France. The English wanted to defend the Belgians and by summer everyone in Europe had “August Fever.” They assumed that thanks to modern technology and good planning, they’d win a quick war and be home by Fall.

Instead, World War One, or “the Great War” left 10 million dead and 20 million wounded, many of those permanently maimed. The world faced amputees, the long-term health effects of new chemical and biological weapons and to the paralyzing psychological traumas that were then known as “shell-shock.” So many young men and boys were lost that theirs became called “the lost generation.”

At 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918, in a railroad car, leaders of the Allied and Central Powers signed an armistice, a temporary suspension of hostilities. Americans observed that day as a day to honor peace and the sacrifice of it’s veterans already in 1919. In 1938, Congress made it an official, National holiday. In 1954 Congress renamed the holiday “Veteran’s Day.”

Before WWI was even finished, in January 1918, President Woodrow Wilson gave his famous “14 points” speech to Congress. Outlining his plan for making the world safe for democracy, and making sure that WW I would be the war to END all wars. We could learn a lot from his plan:

1. “Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at”…”diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.” No secret alliances, no secret negotiations, all deals needed to be above-board. Would that also mean no secret bombings and no secret prison camps?

2. “Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war”

3. Free trade

4. Arms reduction

5. Sovereignty and self determination for small countries, rather than occupation and control by more powerful nations.

Points 6-13. Dealt with the reorganization of many of the European nations that were fought over and agreeing on where their borders should be.

14. “A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”

After WWII, the U.S led the way in creating such an association, the United Nations, in hopes of helping all nations operate by rule of law and international agreements, rather than by the personality and whims of their leaders or parties in power.

Republican Senator from Wisconsin Gerald Nye led a committee to investigate what drew the U.S. into WWI. Between 1934 and 1936 his seven member committee held Ninety-three hearings and questioned more than two hundred witnesses. The committee reported that between 1915 and April 1917, the US loaned Germany $27 million while at the same time loaning Great Britain and its allies $2.3 billion (about 85 times as much). They concluded that the US entered the war because it was in its commercial interest for England to win.

116,516 American service men died in WWI. The war cost the U.S. $18.7 billion. Americans came to understand that America’s involvement may have been profit driven. Congress authorized veterans' benefits in 1917. In 1924, WWI vets were promised a bonus payment of $1,000. As the Great Depression worsened in 1932, nearly 15,000 veterans and their families marched on Washington to demand their bonuses. The “Bonus Army” camped out for months. By July, the Bonus Army was 25,000 strong.

No matter how we feel about the war or the President, we should honor our soldiers. We should pressure our officials to make sure that veterans and military families, including National Guard members receive the benefits that they need.

Ben Tripp of Veterans For Common Sense puts it this way. “Thousands of Vietnam veterans are lost in America's streets and public shelters, thirty years after their war petered out, unable to repatriate in a nation that has forgotten what real sacrifice costs… Will we let this happen again to the warriors that are spilling their guts in the sands of Iraq?... Do not judge them for what they have done, no matter how bloody, no matter how banal their role in the war. Do not judge them. They are the sword that cuts. They are not the hand that wields it. Some will be accused of crimes, and will answer for them; others will be lauded as heroes and held up as models for future generations…if we are willing to do the work, we might be able to stop the war inside our troops when they come home.”