Veterans Day

John Schwenkler     November 11th, 2008     
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Both of my grandfathers served as officers in the Navy during World War II, and for that reason among many others Veterans Day is one of those occasions that leaves me with tons of conflicted feelings. I’m going to try to sketch some of those thoughts out before the end of the day, but for now here are a few worthwhile things you might read:

  • Alex Massie and Conor Friedersdorf both have nice pieces up at Culture11.
  • If you missed that passage from Dorothy Day that I quoted on Saturday, remedy that. In a similar vein, you might look at some of what I’ve written about patriotism and support for foreign wars, e.g. this and this in particular.
  • And finally, this article from Esquire on how we bury our war dead is one of the most heart-rending things I’ve ever read.

Like I said, hopefully I’ll have something more substantial to say by the end of the day. For now I’ve got a deadline to meet.

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     Filed under: patriotism, war

2 Responses to “Veterans Day”

  1. nathancontramundi, on November 11th, 2008 at 9:51 am Said:

    I’ve posted that Esquire piece a couple of times, and read it a couple more, and I’ve never made it to the end without shedding a tear.

    Thanks for the links to Alex and Conor; I’ve been terrible about keeping up with C11 and am grateful that you keep us abreast.

  2. Veterans Day « Nathancontramundi, on November 11th, 2008 at 9:57 am Said:

    [...] has a couple of great links posted here. One of them is the tear-jerker from Esquire, about burying a soldier from Indiana who died in [...]

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