While corporations shell out discounts and lawmakers offer their thanks for veterans’ service, some veterans, like EMN Director Dennis Fritz and Assoc. Director Matthew Hoh, say Veterans Day is a painful reminder of their own service, especially as war rages in Gaza.
“As I reflect on what’s going on today in the Middle East in particular, you know, my goal is to be able to celebrate Veterans Day and not add more to Memorial Day…I’ve unfortunately had to send troops off to war, and some of them never came back,” said Fritz.
Read the full piece by NPR’s Alana Wise here.
Veterans Day weekend is often difficult, oftentimes because it’s just filled with platitudes where there is a ritualized, almost religious-type obligation to thank veterans for their service in this country without really inquiring into what that service entailed.
Capt. Matthew Hoh