Veterans Day

On November 11, Americans will celebrate Veterans Day  to honor our military veterans.

This observance began in 1919 as Armistice Day to recognize the soldiers of World War I. Fighting during that war had basically ceased seven months before the official Treaty of Versailles was signed. An armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Ted Farinholt

In 1954, Congress changed the word "Armistice" to "Veterans"  to honor our military veterans of all wars.

There are so many excellent books about soldiers and veterans. Some recommended non-fiction books are:

• Unbroken: a World War II story of Survival Resilience and Redemption  by Laura Hillenbrand
• Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley
• D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Battle for the Normandy Beaches by Stephen Ambrose
• Tough As They Come by Travis Mills
• No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen.
• My Brother and the Lost Dreams of Americas Veterans by Catherine Whitney. In this book she writes about her brother Jim Schuler. A review stated that “He died the day before 9/11 at age

  

  Merrill Howard

  fifty-three, or, as the author tells us, three years younger than the average life expectancy of a Vietnam veteran.” “The great myth of war is that it can be left behind,” she wrote. 

While his father serves in
Europe young Carroll
Meile prepares for battle

Some picture books for children include:

• H is for Honor, a military family Alphabet by by Devin Scillian, illustrated by Victor Juhasz
• Tuesday Tucks Me In: The Loyal Bond Between a Soldier and His Service Dog, by Luis Carlos Montalvan and Bret Witter, photographs by Dan Dion
• The Poppy Lady by Barbara Walsh, illustrated by Layne Johnson
• The Wall by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Ronald Himler
• Rags: Hero Dog of WWII by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by Petra Brow.

Joseph Farinholt training in England

 A HuffPost blog By Michael Giltz mentioned books to read for Veterans Day. These included:

• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
• What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes
• Willie & Joe: The WW II Years and Willie & Joe Back Home by Bill Mauldin.

My father loved Bill Mauldin’s Willie & Joe cartoons and reporter Ernie Pyle’s newspaper articles on the war. Dad said they gave Americans the true picture of the World War II. He taught us to respect active service members and veterans. 

Bob Farinholt

Frank & Irene Farinholt (Woolsey), first
female Farinholt veteran

Many member of my family served in the armed forces. I’ve included a few of their pictures here. 


A thank you to our veterans and today's
military men and women.