Will war ever bring peace?

 "Search & destroy" photo by Mike Marcellino, TET Offensive, Vietnam War, 1968, on a mission with the 23rd South Vietnamese Rangers and U. S. Army 23rd Artillery forward observers.


Will war ever bring peace?
by Mike Marcellino


"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."  -José Narosky, Argentine writer, mostly of amorphisms

I don't know of the war experience of Narosky, or how he came to write this, but the quote is true.


Today is Veterans Day, November 11, 2011.  There hasn't been a calendar day like this since November 11, 1911, before the outbreak of World War I.

Our Veterans Day began as the moment fighting ceased in World War I, 11am, November 11, 1918.  This moment in our history has become known as Veterans Day in America.

This makes today's Veterans Day the calendar moment of 11-11-11-11, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month in the year two thousand and eleven.  You can take this to the craps tables in Las Vegas, but it hasn't brought peace.  We are still fighting in Afghanistan and maintain troops in Iraq and all over the world. 


"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer." -George S. Patton, general, U. S. Army, WWII

U. S. Army Soldiers of the 101st Airborne patrol a mountainous village in the rugged Spira mountains in Khost province, along the Afghan-Pakistan Borde.  (Photo David Furst / AFP / Getty Images)

I found this photo on an interesting website started in 1984 to help soldiers from World War II, both Americans and Germans locate the places where they fought.  It's called the US Veterans Contact point and Information Center and was founded in Malmedy, Belgium.  Here's the link to the website for a further look at an interesting project. (Malmedy is well know as the site of the massacre of 71 unarmed U. S. troops by German troops during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.)

Oddly, there hasn't been a date like this for a century, since November 11, 1911.  Since then Americans, patriots, if you will, have fought, died and been wounded in two world wars and wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as excursions into Grenada and Panama, not to mention countless other military interventions. Here is the link to the Wikipedia timeline of United States military operations since 1776:

Timeline of U. S. military operations


While the sacrifice of American soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen, should be honored in deed every day of the year, the list of U. S. military operations is enough to choke a horse. 

We, as a nation, must ask ourselves, to what end? What are we fighting, dying and being maimed for?  Where is the peace?

Some day we should swap our M-16s for shovels and see if that brings peace.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"My Girls" photo by Mike Marcellino, 1968, Vietnam War

Finally, we invite your to listen to our lyrical poetry song recording, "The Walls of Fire," an ode to the sacrifice by American troops from the Civil War to Afghanistan. There's a music player right up top.  If you'd like to "like" us on our Facebook music page here's the link.

Mike Marcellino's artist page on Facebook

Our music website is on ReverbNation where our band is #30 Top Folk Artist on the New York City chart.

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