Veterans Day

 

Today is Veterans Day, a day to honor our veterans for their service to our country and for protecting our freedom.   Of course, we all know that we should thank our veterans every day! 

Veterans Day is observed on November 11 and is intended to thank and honor all those men and women who served in the military.  Veterans Day is largely intended to thank living Veterans for their service.  It’s important to remember those Veterans who have died, but it is also important to honor those living Veterans who spent time serving their country, whether in times of war or in peacetime.  Every veteran has given of themselves to insure our freedom and should be recognized.  

On this Veterans Day, I found a little history about the military that you may not be aware of.  Not only have men & women protected us, but many animals have served as well.  Here are a few photos of some dogs that, with their handlers, have saved lives, protected soldiers and served as guards.  In fact, in World War II, most of the dogs that assisted the military were actually family pets that were “loaned” to the military to be trained for missions to assist in the war effort.  After their military service they were returned to their families, where they could once again be the “family pet”.   And, this wasn’t just a few dogs.  By 1944 they had 20,000 dogs, of which over 10,000 actually passed the “training” required to be put into active duty.  

Today, the dogs serving our country are actually “owned” by the military and trained by military personnel known as “handlers”. 

The photo to the right is a little guy known as Sargeant Stubby.  He is a hero from World War I who spent much of his time in Europe protecting his troops from harm.  One thing he was able to do was alert the men to the enemy using gas.  This allowed the men to get their gas masks in place before any harm was done.  Unfortunately, they were not able to fashion a gas mask to properly seal over Stubby’s muzzle and one time he actually was “gassed”.  Fortunately, he recovered from that incident and returned to his military duties.  The little jacket that he is wearing was sewn for him by some French women who thought he should have a place to display all his medals.  

I may be partial to the dogs (afterall, I am one) who served our country; but,  on this Veterans Day, I want you to remember ALL the Veterans who have served our country.  Take time out of your busy day to thank them & their families for all they’ve given to protect our freedom.  They all deserve our thanks, today and every day!  So, let me say- 

THANK YOU VETERANS! 

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