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This Veteran's Day Will Be Different |
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Written On: November 7, 2001 |
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Just try to buy an American Flag these days in a store around town. You can’t find one.
Since September 11, I’ve shopped for a flag to mount on our building. Every place I go, the store manager says the same thing—they’re on back order.
Everyone wants one whether they be full-size flags, antenna flags, or flag decals. The Avon Company sold 1.5 million patriotic lapel pins in two weeks. Drive-in restaurants give you flag decal by donating $1 to the American Red Cross and other victim relief funds.
Even Hollywood is joining in. Virtually everyone at this year’s Emmy Awards wore a red, white and blue flag pin.
This outpouring of patriotism is great for America and gives this Veteran’s Day a whole new meaning. It is a far cry from the days of the Vietnam War, a low point in our nation’s history.
During Vietnam, some of my college classmates abandoned their citizenship and fled to Canada to avoid military service. Others protested and burned American flags.
I wasn’t a fan of the Vietnam War, and the United States Army was not my idea of starting a career—but neither was abandoning my American citizenship. Watching Americans mutilate the flag my father fought for in World War II was very distressing for me. It was heartbreaking for him.
The hostility towards soldiers became so bad that some of my Army buddies would change into their civilian clothes at the airport when we were traveling. They didn’t want people to know they were soldiers. They didn’t want to be spit on at home.
This Veteran’s Day will be very different. The scars from the terrorist attacks are still fresh in our hearts and minds. In New York, smoke still rises from the rubble of the World Trade Center, where workers continue the grizzly task of searching for the remains of thousands of people. In Washington, D.C., the Pentagon still bears the gaping wound caused when a hijacked airliner slammed into the building.
On November 11, a record number of Americans will be moved to show their pride in our country and our flag.
Hopefully, the younger generations will begin to understand what patriotism means and why veterans like my dad fought and almost died to protect our American flag.
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