11-11-11

Tomorrow, 11-11 at 11:00 AM, we should all take a moment and remember why we have the freedoms we do and to whom, exactly, we owe them.

In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England's Westminster Abbey and France's Arc de Triomphe as an unknown soldier was buried in each nation's highest place of honor.

While I no longer hold France in any great esteem, despite it being the land where my father's father and mother came from, I do, and always will, honor its veterans.

These memorial services all took place on November 11, the anniversary of the end of World War I at 11:00 a.m., November 11, 1918, which was the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It was named Armistice Day and eventually became Veterans Day.

On June 1, 1954, Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans. In 1968, legislation changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. Soon it became apparent that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. In 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

Official, national ceremonies for Veterans Day center around the Tomb of the Unknowns. To honor these men, symbolic of all Americans who gave their lives in all wars, an Army honor guard, the 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), keeps day and night vigil. At 11 a.m. on November 11, a combined color guard representing all military services executes "Present Arms" at the tomb. The nation's tribute to its war dead is symbolized by the laying of a presidential wreath and the playing of "Taps."

On Memorial Day (which honors U.S. service people who died in action) in 1958, two more unidentified American war dead, one from World War II and the other from the Korean War, were buried next the unknown soldier of World War I. A law was passed in 1973 providing interment of an unknown American from the Vietnam War, but because of the improved technology to identify the dead, it was not until 1984 that an unidentified soldier was buried in the tomb.

In 1998, however, the Vietnam soldier was identified through DNA tests as Michael Blassie, a 24-year-old Air Force pilot who was shot down in May of 1972 near the Cambodian border. His body was disinterred and reburied by his family in St. Louis, Missouri.

Tomorrow I will leave my job and go watch our JROTC Color Guard stand at attention and honor our service men and women at a small graveyard in Detroit. Each of them does their country and our school a great honor by volunteering for this duty.

I'll take pictures and thank the young cadets. I will pray for peace for our veterans' souls. I expect I will shed a tear as well.

My thanks to all who serve. I owe you everything.