Daily Archives: November 11, 2015

Giving Thanks for Veterans Known and Unknown

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I am thankful that God has blessed us with so many brave men and women who were willing to sacrifice and to serve this great country of ours. I am thinking today especially of my dad, John F. Maney, who fought in Europe during World War II.

John F. Maney

I am also thinking of my grandfathers, John S. Maney and F. Earl Shaffer, who served in the army during World War I. Grandpa Maney also saw combat in Europe.

I am thinking of my uncle, W. Everett Jones, who served in the army in Europe during World War II.

I am thinking of my father-in-law, Donald E. Traylor, who served in the army in Germany during the Korean War.

I am thinking of my dad’s best friend, Dale Terry, who served in the navy in the Pacific theater during World War II.

I am thinking of my friends John Falor, Tod Tapola, Jim Lytle, and Jerry Gallaway who served in Vietnam.

I am thinking of my friend, Col. David Mullins, who served in Iraq.

I am thinking of all the men and women who are currently serving in our armed forces, some in very dangerous places, and ask God’s blessing and protection for them.

Thank you veterans, both known and unknown, for your valiant and heroic service to our country. God bless you all.

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A Short History of Veterans’ Day

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As you pause this day to give thanks for our veterans, past and present, take some time to familiarize yourself with the history of this day.

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

Soldiers of the 353rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, Meuse in France.

Soldiers of the 353rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, Meuse in France, wait for the end of hostilities.  This photo was taken at 10:58 a.m., on November 11, 1918, two minutes before the armistice ending World War I went into effect

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Read it all.

A Prayer for Veterans’ Day

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Governor of Nations, our Strength and Shield:
we give you thanks for the devotion and courage
of all those who have offered military service for this country:

For those who have fought for freedom;
for those who laid down their lives for others;
for those who have borne suffering of mind or of body;
for those who have brought their best gifts to times of need.
On our behalf they have entered into danger,
endured separation from those they love,
labored long hours, and borne hardship in war and in peacetime.

Lift up by your mighty Presence those who are now at war;
encourage and heal those in hospitals
or mending their wounds at home;
guard those in any need or trouble;
hold safely in your hands all military families;
and bring the returning troops to joyful reunion
and tranquil life at home;

Give to us, your people, grateful hearts
and a united will to honor these men and women
and hold them always in our love and our prayers;
until your world is perfected in peace.

All this we ask through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.