In addition to enjoying the free meals offered to veterans today (and the reason I do so is to 1) celebrate and 2) be extra generous in my tips. The first couple of years I did it, I saw people would come in for the free food and leave no tip. I can understand if people are down and out but I can't believe all the people I saw that left without tipping were strapped for cash)

Every Veterans Day, I try to go out with my wife and enjoy the free meals offered to veterans. The reason I do is to 1) celebrate and 2) be extra generous with my tips. The first couple of years I did it, I saw people would come in for the free food and leave no tip. I can understand if people are down and out but I can't believe all the people I saw that left without tipping were strapped for cash.

And then after coming home, I find I won 12131's karma. Wow is all I can say.

In any case, the point of this thread was to share something else that I did to celebrate the day. Since I'm only an hour away, I made a date to meet my veteran grandniece and her veteran spouse at the Anthem Veterans Memorial in Anthems, AZ. She even took a half day from work to meet my wife and I there. They brought their 4 year old boy with them.

If you don't know, it has five pillars representing the five branches of the U.S. military. Each pillar has a porthole and the five portholes perfectly align at 11:11 AM on each Veterans Day to form a solar spotlight on The Great Seal of the United States at its base. Here's a link for additional information. Anthem Community Council

What I didn't know was that they have a whole ceremony program with speeches and choir singing. Today was the 10th anniversary and today was also when they added the Space Force flag to be part of the Memorial. It's the flag facing the pillars at one of the pictures below. The speeches weren't all pablum, one retired flag officer who remains an expert on the Asian Pacific talked about the rising dragon of China and the importance of Taiwan and Japan among others in the region. A few minutes before 11:11, five F-16s flown by 5 heads (I think they were colonels) flew over.

Afterwards, we talked over lunch including about my dad who is her great great granddad whom she knew when she was a kid. He fought in World War II and in Korean. He was in the Bataan Death March. It was a very satisfying day to share with other patriotic citizens and family.

I have been meaning to get there one of these days!
Sounds like you had a great day

Right there with you on the festivities.. Both myself and wife are active duty US Army veterans (18yrs between us) we invited a long time friend who is a Navy vet to go to a Texas Roadhouse and picked up some vouchers that can be used at a later date... 2 yrs ago they opened early at 11am and the parking lot was over full and kitchen being slamed.... Then went back across town to a Chili"s and ate lunch. Bill for 3 meals came to a grand total of $5.95. Handed the waitress payment in cash and she said she would be back with change we told her no change needed that the extra for her. Thought I would have to pick her up off of the floor... Yep -- took care of her. ................ Best of all the managers had went out of their way to set a "Table of Rememberance" up and thanked them for doing so. .......... Now will use the vouchers at a later date....... God bless our troops be they past / present / or future. ........ drill sgt.

You call it Veterans' Day. Here in UK and the Commonwealth we call it Armistice Day, the day and the time, 11am, when the guns fell silent in WW1.

We hold a Great Silence of two minutes, and for that period, most things come to a stop.

People stop walking and talking, buying and selling and making. This country, in particular, has known literally ONE day of peace, when its soldiers were not engaged in some kind of military action, since that day back in 1918 when we temporarily stopped slaughtering each other.

As with most years that we are here in England at this time, we wear our poppies with a sad kind of pride, and remember, each of us in their own way. The big pomp and ceremony will be held in London on Sunday, but those of us who could have our own little ceremony on the actual day. Like just about every town and village in UK, we have our little memorial and a few were there yesterday at the time.

I was about ten miles away, in a churchyard, paying my respects at the graves of an entire crew of a RCAF bomber that crashed nearby on 23 March 1942.

I alternate between there and the American Cemetery at Madingley, where I 'remember' the co-pilot of a B24 Bomber, lost in the North Sea - the co-pilot bore my name. Or rather, I bear his.

'Lest we forget'.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
Here in UK and the Commonwealth we call it Armistice Day, ....

As you may know it used to be “Armistice Day” in the US as well. The name was reportedly changed here in 1954, and I find it interesting that it’s referred to by its original name there.

I am of two minds about the name difference. In one way I like that it honors all military veterans and doesn’t just focus on what the lyrics of one song calls a “fargotten” war and which is literally ancient history to most Americans. But on the other hand the original name may have served to keep knowledge of a bit of critical history alive, and thereby helped maintain interest in history in general. I’m not sure about that, though, because although it was originally Armistice Day here, I don’t recall hearing much popular explanation at the time of why the day was important. Then again, I was only eight at the time of the change, and may have forgotten some of that.

And good on you for your remembrances. Most of that here tends to be on Memorial Day (although even that is often poorly understood, hence “Happy Memorial Day” wishes).