Features
Moving Veteran’s Day Rites Provide Cause for Reflection
“I thought this started at 11 a.m. They’re late, just like the army,” grumbled the veteran leaning against his bike. A woman turned and reminded him, “They start at eleven minutes after eleven o’clock to observe Armistice Day.”
Precisely at 11 minutes after 11, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November—the moment the armistice began that ended World War I—the program started, with Country Joe McDonald as presenter, and city officials and veterans speaking to a crowd of nearly 200 people.
Professor Peter Fowler was glad to see the turnout: “I don’t think Veteran’s Day has always been treated as reverentially as it should be.”
The emotionally moving ceremony included, in addition to the remarks by those present, the presentation of colors, music—including Country Joe’s new song “Peace On Earth—and the retirement of two flags, one the Stars and Stripes, the other commemorating those missing in action.
As the second flag was laid on the bonfire, one woman broke down sobbing. The young men next to her shook their heads and looked away; another woman walked over to put her hand on her shoulder.
Mike Bacon, retired Marine, later reminded me, “People imagine the horrors of war and shrink from the thought of it. A soldier imagines the horrors of what might be without war and shrinks from that prospect.”
Maria Staal, a survivor of WWII, recalled the end of the war in Amsterdam. “I saw people starve. I would see someone just sitting there, and then suddenly fall over from starvation…There was no bread for a year until the British did a bread drop from airplanes. We called it manna from heaven; people were on their knees, praying and thanking God.”
Pat Mc Cullough, city of Berkeley employee and Navy veteran, concluded the remarks, saying, “Veterans remember, often in silence, and often alone.”
Tax deductible contributions for next year’s observance may be sent to the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, 1834 University Ave., Berkeley, 94704.
Alta Gerrey became a peace activist after a cousin returned from active duty with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
