Veterans For Peace Sponsored Armistice Day Parade
On Sunday, November 11, 2007, at Meadville Pennsylvania, a city of 14,000, the Crawford County, Pennsylvania chapter of Veterans for Peace sponsored a Veterans/Armistice Day Parade and rally to celebrate the 88th anniversary of Armistice Day which became Veterans Day in 1954. The original purpose of the legal holiday was to honor the agreement that ended World War I (the war to end all wars) at 11:00 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1919. At that time the killing stopped and church bells through-out the world were rung signaling the end of war.
Beginning in 1954, the nation designated this date as Veterans Day and President Eisenhower said: Let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly ... and let us re-consecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so their sacrifices shall not have been in vain.
Sanford Kelson, the local VFP parade chair said: "I am sure that every soldier who serves in armed combat hopes and prays that someday war will be a distant memory, and that no new soldiers will need to take his or her place in battle."
Armed service members take an oath to protect and defend
the constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. They do not take an oath to
support or oppose any particular war or government policy. So the local VFP
chapter decided the way to honor those who served to protect the constitution
was to encourage uncensored free speech about the war at the after parade rally.
Ironically, while elsewhere throughout the
US, members of Veterans For Peace were not welcome to
march in Veterans Day parades because of their message of peace, the VFP
Meadville parade committee invited veterans groups that strongly support the
current wars to participate as equal planners and participants. To allow only
one position about the war would violate the spirit of the constitutional right
of free speech and dishonor the veterans who served to protect it. Unfortunately
the pro war veterans refused to participate. However, the Pennsylvania National
Guard honored the peace parade by providing three military vehicles and half a
dozen or so reserve soldiers. One of these soldiers served four combat tours and
the others are to go on their first next year.
Jonathan Hutto, active duty Navy stationed at Norfolk aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt was the key note speaker. He was introduced by Fred DeWalt, a local Navy veteran of World War II whose duty was to land marines onto Pacific islands to engage the Japanese. DeWalt is also a VFP member.
Hutto is a co-founder of the Appeal for Redress and a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans For Peace. The Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to their Congressional Representative and US Senators to urge an end to the Iraq War The wording of the Appeal for Redress is short, simple, patriotic and respectful:
As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.
Hutto, speaking about the Appeal said: It is not unpatriotic to question the country's leaders. It is our love of country that causes us to ask these questions. If you are patriotic, you have to ask these questions.
Department of Defense regulations permit active duty members to express their views and oppose war so long as it is done off duty, out of uniform and off base. Hutto, may understand the patriotism in his words and efforts because of what Theodore Roosevelt, the name sake of his aircraft carrier said: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Hutto concluded his address by calling
on Americans to fight for veterans and to make sure our soldiers are taken care
of properly after they get home.
The parade had about 200 participants but few spectators. Students from nearby Allegheny College participated. Jacquelyn Shannon of the college's Peace Coalition spoke and said that wisdom, the ability to learn from the experiences of those who came before, cannot be taught but is necessary to bring about peace. The crowd must have great hope for the efforts of these young people because they got the loudest applause.
Musical presentations were interspersed throughout the program and included the playing of Flowers of the Forest on the highland pipes by Korean war veteran and VFP member Peter Shaw, the Meadville High School Treble Choir's rendition of The Star Spangled Banner and This Land is Your Land, various tunes by the Breakaway Band from Pittsburgh and the singing and guitar presentation by Terry English of Blowing in the Wind and his own song, Forgotten Warrior. Allegheny College student Zack Price read VN veteran and VFP member W.D. Ehrhart's poem, Operation Desert Storm, and the Allegheny College Jazz Ensemble danced the entire parade route. The Meadville Fire Department, Conneaut Lake and Union City Ambulance Services provided vehicles for the parade. Visiting groups from Erie, Titusville, Pittsburgh and elsewhere marched.
Kelson's concluding remarks included the observation that America has become seduced by the power of military force but that force was not going to bring about a just and enduring peace.
Not only were veterans duly celebrated but there was a sea change from the prevalent militaristic celebration of the holiday back to the original intent of the holiday and its "re-consecration" in 1954 by President Eisenhower. The VFP parade had to have been the happiest and most joyful celebration of Armistice-Veterans Day in the nation.
By: Sanford Kelson
sandkel@earthlink