THE OWL'S EYE

We Owls who fly around our county are very lucky, and so are you. This Veterans Day we can flutter a couple blocks from home and visit our own Alabama Veteran's Museum, one of the finest in the entire South. Carefully supervised by Sandy Thompson, she, her staff, and volunteers attend to memorials which convey the truth of what American veterans have done to keep our Constitution preserved and our land free.

Veterans have a special place in our American consciousness. They are our own sons and daughters, our ancestors, friends, and neighbors. Each of them joined for private reasons, the draft, or for no reason other than looking for a job. It doesn't matter in the end, provided they did what they were called upon to do honorably. All are veterans.

In our museum you'll find many astounding artifacts, from Civil War infantry uniforms to actual weapons used by American revolutionaries. Most items were donated by your very neighbors. Stunningly, you'll see the mighty Blackhawk helicopter as you enter, a testimony to American weaponry designed to keep our military safe while engaging in combat. You'll see an astounding collection of such uniforms, weapons, equipment, flags and devices which went into defending our country.

Regarding artifacts, I found a 'vintage' book at one of our libraries last week. It was a 'field issue' novel, written in old Germanic script. The date was 1916, and the field it was issued to was apparently World War 1. An enemy veteran held this book, no doubt while awaiting combat action against our own American veterans. What was that German thinking? Did he dread tomorrow, as he'd confront the American 'Doughboys' who'd come 'over there' to finish the job and 'won't come back 'til it's over, over there?' How can places so placid, so calm as a museum or library evoke such strange thoughts of death, tragedy, fear, and horror?

What we don't see is the choking smoke, poison gas, and carnage, or smell the corpses resulting from the use of those weapons. As one veteran said, "Equipment, ammunition, rolls of barbed wire, tins of food, gas helmets and rifles were lying around everywhere. There were more corpses than men, but there were worse sights than corpses. Limbs and mutilated trunks, here and there a detached head and, as in advertisement of the horror of our way of life and death, and of the crucifixion of our youth, one tree held in its branchers a leg, with its torn flesh hanging down over a spray of leaf." Veterans Day brings back many and varied recollections.

Wars begin with lies, drawing in our young and the youth of all the world, with the belief that glory and honor is to be found there. Putin promised victory over Ukraine in a week to his armies. Slaughter there continues. Battles are sanitized for home consumption in media and newspapers. Dead kindergarteners in Kharkiv or babies in Gaza are a number listed as 'killed in overnight strikes.' A British correspondent wrote a book called 'Now It Can Be Told' about what really happened in the World War he reported, after wartime censorship was lifted. It was not pleasant to read. Or, in 1890 the US Army slaughtered over 250 Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, pursuing many across the prairie to finish them off. 19 of those cavalrymen retained their Medals of Honor awarded for this massacre as a result of current government policy. Their award retention is said to be part of today's "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History." Gunning down unarmed women and children, even pursuing them to do so, is said to be worthy of the Medal of Honor by today's government program called Truth and Sanity.

Lies about the past dishonor real American veterans. Many were drafted, but did their military service honorably. All honorable veterans defended their country. They committed no crimes, nor did they hesitate to do their duty. Those who helped rescue a continent from the grasp of Hitler's armies, or slugged their way across a vast Pacific Ocean to bring down aggressive Japanese Imperialism were all veterans. Vietnam, Grenada, and Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan brought about honorable veterans. Those who served stateside but saw no battle are honored veterans. Those who fought secret battles, lost their best friends and colleagues to incidents never reported in American newspapers are veterans. For instance, only with the fall of Soviet Communism have we learned of so many American airmen lost in the Cold War. The list could go on. Honor our veterans, who did their service to help keep us free to vote, to assemble, and to speak as free men and women.