Remembering Veterans Day
Post #66 – Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
From time to time, Bill Thomas shares a story with us. You may recall, from previous posts that prior to joining the military, Bill helped train women in the art of riveting during World War II. Today he would like to share some thoughts about Veteran’s Day and memories of a life spanning 90 years.
American Veterans Day
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Imagine…2014. It’s 100 years since 1914, and I’ve lived through 90 of those memorable years.
Why “memorable?” Lot’s of reasons come to mind.
One of the most memorable automobiles was Henry Ford’s “Model T” Ford (first produced in 1908). It was also the time when Ford doubled his workers’ daily wage to $5 per day.
July 12, 1914 was memorable because it was the day Serbian assassin Gavrilo Princip shot and killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, as their motorcade passed through the streets of Sarajevo. While a lot of events contributed to the start of World War I, this is considered the triggering event.
America stayed neutral until 1917 when America became involved in that horrendous, bloody, and costly war. Almost 5 million young Americans served (about 3 million were draftees), and by the middle of 1918 the United States was sending 10,000 soldiers into France daily. American military casualties surpassed 100,000 and another 204,000 were the victims of severe wounds, scars, body losses, and impaired health.
Fortunately, many millions of our military warriors returned safely to the USA. All became known as VETERANS. My dad and uncle were two of them.
Happily, WWI ended when an Armistice was signed. And that memorable day–November 11, 1918–became known as Armistice Day and ultimately became Veterans Day. That day is commonly referred to as “the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month.”
Both wondrous and miserable days became memorable through the 1920s with the passage of Women’s Rights, the rise of radio and the silent movies, The Roaring 20’s, and the 1929 Wall Street Crash which brought on the Great Depression. The 1930s saw the introduction of the Social Security System and the most miserable era of the Dust Bowl in the mid-1930s.
Journalist Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation, told the story (to quote Wikipedia) of “the generation who grew up in the United States during the deprivation of the Great Depression, and then went on to fight in World War II, as well as those whose productivity within the war’s home front made a decisive material contribution to the war effort, for which the generation is also termed the G.I.”
When WWII started, the United States stayed neutral but supplied war materiel to the Allies until that memorable “infamous” Sunday, December 7, 1941, when Japan launched a surprise, sneak-attack on Pearl Harbor. By the war’s end, our nation had lost more than 418,000 veterans and civilians. Worldwide the losses were astronomical. During and the months after the war, more 60 million people were killed worldwide, but with the support of our Allies, our American Veterans–including the meritorious effort and abilities of our women’s military organizations such as the WACS, WAVES, WASPS–liberated hundreds of millions of people whose countries had been defeated by the Axis.
Due to World War 2’s tremendous production requirements, the USA realized and enjoyed great economic gains and high labor employment–not seen since before the Great Depression. Millions of women were employed to help with the war effort in factories and offices. They became one of our country’s greatest assets. In 1942, I trained 40 “Rosie the Riveters.” However, their gainful employment also negated job opportunities to the returning military veterans.
After the war, many, if not most, of the women wanted to continue their precious employment. Anticipating the situation and to alleviate the veterans’ unemployment situation, President Roosevelt with the powerful voices of several veterans’ organizations, primarily the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, helped Congress to pass the The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944.
The law, commonly known as the G.I. Bill of Rights, also provided a wide range of educational assistance to service members, veterans, and their dependents. Many millions of male and female veterans flooded the country’s colleges and trade schools to improve and increase their future employment opportunities.
These newly educated and trained veterans became teachers, nurses, doctors, accountants, lawyers, bankers, secretaries, retail store, factory and office employees, managers, plumbers, mechanics, engineers, carpenters, painters, actors, etc. And their ability to enter the workforce led to greater national prosperity in the post-war years. Also with the assistance of the G.I. Bill, millions of new businesses, factories, and office buildings were constructed. And hundreds of thousands more veterans became farmers and ranchers.
Millions of people married, and many others needed housing, so millions of new houses and apartments were built. And those new residences needed furnishing, requiring the manufacture of all the new furniture and home furnishings. Millions of new automobiles and trucks were manufactured and sold as well.
The G.I. Bill was one of the greatest and most productive government assistance programs ever created. According to Congress’s Joint Economic Committee’s detailed cost analysis in 1988, Congress spent $51 billion (figured for 2006 dollars) of the People’s tax money on educational benefits alone. But the return on that expenditure created $260 billion in increased national productivity, and a RETURN INVESTMENT of tax dollars of $93 billion, which amounted to a gross profit of $353 billion. What that means, is that for $51 billion spent and $353 billion returned, the country returned $7 for every $1 spent.
Not only have our military veterans contributed their physical bodies, limbs and minds to protect and save our super-great nation, but have immensely added to the economic growth and prosperity of these great UNITED States of America.
Unfortunately, in recent years, too many people have switched the capital letter “I” in UNITED for the lower case “i” as in UNTiED. As true Americans, let’s all forget about Red states and Blue states. Let’s add the white back in and again become the red, white and blue UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. That’s the super-great nation we have worked for as civilians and died for as veterans ever since the Revolutionary War.
I intended to end this article by including a list of our local communities’ departed comrades who have “Reported to a Higher Command,” but the list would overflow this column. Instead, I hope you will join me as true patriots and take a bit of time to acknowledge and commemorate our military veterans this Tuesday, November 11, 2014. You can place an American Flag emblem on your lapel or collar, fly an American flag at your home or place of business, visit a cemetery, view a parade, or attend one of the Veterans Day ceremonies in your or nearby city.
Here in Southern California, one of the ceremonies closest to Seal Beach is the Veterans Day ceremony in Eisenhower Park near the Seal Beach Pier on Ocean Avenue, at the ocean-end of Main Street. This program will be conducted by and include members of American Legion Post 857 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4048. The “Young Marines” will also participate. The Program will include patriotic songs and a few, short speeches with Past Commander Dan Schmaltz serving as the Master of Ceremonies.
Bill Thomas is a Veteran of World War II and Past Commander of VFW Post 4048 and American Legion Post 857.
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