For soldiers’ sake, put up flags for peace
Each November 11th the word “armistice” is recalled. It is seared into my mind by the yearly Milwaukee ritual that quietly and reverently at 11 a.m. marched every school child, kindergarten through eighth grade — no matter the cold — onto the sidewalk around the school to honor the World War I armistice.
It took many years for me to realize the significance of a vase made by a child’s father hammering out a shell casing in the trenches that one year was brought into the classroom.
Yes, I honor veterans on Memorial Day. A seaman husband survived the water of Leyte Gulf when LST 749 was destroyed. Sadly, an uncle, Air Corps pilot in Europe who never uttered a word of his experience was plagued at the end of his long life with some measure post-traumatic stress.
On Nov. 11, World War I Armistice Day, we should be honoring our military with a compassionate resolution for peaceful solutions instead of “shock
and awe.” How extraordinary it would be if we could put up flags for world peace.
— Carol Eberling, Chico
