"To Honor the Dead by Helping the Living"

America's troops and veterans are under-funded, over-committed and dangerously weakened. The last time this happened was the Carter Administration.

by Rod D. Martin
November 11, 1999

The mission statement of the VFW Washington office is "to honor the dead by helping the living." This motto should be our theme this, if not every, Veterans Day.

Veterans Day – originally Armistice Day, commemorating the end of "the war to end all wars", World War I – becomes a more somber event with each passing year. The number of World War II veterans (my generation's grandparents) who die every day is now 1,100, almost as many this year alone as died in the war they fought. The homes, and the communities, and the Legion posts they leave behind are no less empty for the passage of time in between.

It is good and right that we honor them. It is appropriate that the Wall is one of the most visited spots in our Capital. It is high time that Tom Hanks' crusade for a World War II memorial bear fruit, and that the Korean monument be completed. It is wonderful that we continue the parades.

But the best way to honor the dead really is to tangibly help the livi…