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Friday, November 10, 2006

Veteran's Day

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Tomorrow is Veteran's Day. It's a day that honors everyone in the armed services, whether active or inactive. It used to be called Armistice Day, because it falls on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I. All major hostilities of World War 1 were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in1918.

In the past 2 years living here I've experienced several instances that left me impressed by how Americans honor the ones in the armed services--and these events didn't even happen on Veterans Day:

One time Steve and I were having dinner at a country restaurant and were in line to pay for our meal (in many American restaurants the bill is placed on your table then you take it to the cashier to pay for it).

There were two other groups ahead of us: an elderly couple and a younger couple in front of them. The younger man was wearing an armed forces t-shirt (I think it was Marines, I can't remember), and he had the military haircut. The older man asked him, "Are you in the military?" and the younger man said, "Yes, sir."

Then the older man took the bill out of the young man's hand. "I'm paying for your dinner."

I could tell the younger couple was surprised. Then the soldier smiled and gratefully replied, "Thank you, sir."

"It's the least I can do, son."

A civilian pays for another couple's dinner simply because the man was in the military. That kind of thing NEVER happens in Manila.

The other thing that happened was when I was in Omaha for a business trip. I was waiting at the airport for other colleagues that were arriving that day. I was sitting in one of the chairs when I started to hear some cheering and applause.

I stood up and looked down the ramp to see what was going on, and it was a group of soldiers coming home.

Most of the people cheering were family and friends--they had balloons and signs and were jumping up and down. But you could see other passengers putting their bags down so they could clap too. Before long I found myself clapping as well. It seems weird because I'm not an American citizen, but the feeling of pride was so palpable you had to be heartless not to feel it.

Watch the video on my blog's sidebar. It was exactly like that.

Read an account of how a soldier felt by clicking here

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