Yesterday, November 11, we observed Veterans Day, honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with holidays in several countries, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which also occur on the anniversary of the end of World War I. Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The total death toll for military members in this war was between 9 and 11 million. About 21 million soldiers were wounded.
Walking early in the morning along the Columbia river, I was thinking about my grandfather who participated in that war, on the wrong side no less. How it shaped all of his life, from physical consequences to permanent anxiety closely associated with PTSD, only made worse by living through a second war where his son was drafted, to be changed forever. Working class cannon fodder, all of them, still in their late teens.
The poet Siegfried Sassoon captured the horrors of war like few others. Of one of the wealthiest Jewish families in Great Britain, he served, until wounded, with the Royal Welch Fusilier. Fighting in France, he was awarded medals for his bravery. He openly protested the war at the war department upon his return, and escaped a court martial for refusing to serve from now on, only because he was deemed crazy with shell shock, ending up in a psychiatric hospital. (He later went on to become involved in labour politics and was a successful writer, novelist and poet.)
If you are interested in getting a glimpse of the war and those recuperating in hospitals after, I recommend The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker, a phenomenal set of novels grasping the issues of those times, and the psychological and physical consequences of all wars. Even though I despise the politics of Mark Helprin, his novel A Soldier in the Great War is memorable as well.
Here is a relevant poem by Sassoon.
Dreamers
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Emblematic of everything else this administration manages to soil, Secretary of Defense Hegseth and a group surrounding him for a photo op talked loud enough and laughed at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Memorial yesterday. A guard had to remind them (as they are instructed to do by their officers) to remain silent and show respect.
Here is the video.
If that is distasteful, here is something much more horrifying in the long term. The dismantling of the Veterans’ administration by Trump has immense consequences for health care for those who served. Here is an in-depth description of the lack of services veterans now face in a particular region, easily extrapolated to the US as a whole. Mental health services in particular have seen drastic cuts. And yesterday, on Veterans Day itself, the Republicans passed a fast-tracked bill with a procedural trick that expanded some benefits by slashing many others.
Add to that the health issues of military personell and their families, who are serving right now, but will need medical support in the future. Living conditions in military housing are so awful that health is impacted, particularly by mold that can lead to fungal infections, asthma and other lung problems, and even lung cancer. Extended rotations for soldiers and sailors have had severe consequences, suicides included. Bases were not protected in the ongoing fighting with Iran, despite knowledge about Iran’s missile and drone capabilities. Some 16 US military sites have been hit by Iran and its allies. 1,300 Navy families had to flee with just a suitcase, their belongings left behind in Bahrain. The pentagon denied an extension of their financial support, which stops on 11/30.
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But we also have something positive to report. Happy Veterans Day to Medgar Evers, pictured below, buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Mississippi did right by him, he who was assassinated as a dedicated civil rights advocate in the 1960s, by electing Scott Colom, the first Black Senator to the State since 1881. This result is particularly stunning given the multiple ways Mississippi tried to suppress the Black vote, helped by the Us Supreme Court’s Callais decision. Colom’s Republican opponent conceded yesterday.
As Jennifer Rubin commented this morning:
“Mississippi looms large in the history and present reality of racism in American. It’s the state where White racists murdered Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, and civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who had gone in 1964 to register African Americans to vote. It’s the state where mass disenfranchisement has been perpetuated: “Over the past 30 years, approximately 55,000 Mississippians have lost their rights to vote due to felony disenfranchisement,” the Marshall Project reported. “About six out of 10 are Black.” And it’s the state where the Southern Poverty Law Center, now the target of a bogus political prosecution at the hands of racist Trump regime, documented in 2024 the “ongoing impact of racial and socioeconomic injustices on vulnerable communities.”
And the Southern Poverty Law Center reports:
“Voter suppression tactics, such as strict voter ID laws, polling place closures, and voter roll purges, further hinder Black and low-income citizens from exercising their constitutional rights, leading to far-reaching consequences beyond the political sphere. These consequences include limiting individuals’ ability to self-govern and advocate for needs that could potentially eradicate socioeconomic disparities and increase the inclusion of their voices in the democratic process. Moreover, voter suppression compounds health inequities by obstructing access to public resources, environmental justice initiatives, and policies addressing the social determinants of health.”
Despite the riotous colors, the orange fire of the willows, the blue of the mountains in the background,
the gold and silver leaves on the poplars, we are heading into the dark time of year. Daylight is short. But the time is less dark for the voices of ordinary people, millions of them, who voted against wars of choice, and in favor of inclusion rather than segregation. So, so grateful for that.
Music today is Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem.
