Honoring Our Veterans Today...

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."  

-G.K. Chesterton

“Hero’s Welcome” by Norman Rockwell
Saturday Evening Post cover,
published February 22, 1919.

Hip Hip Hooray for Our Veterans!

Our family vacation last month to San Diego made me appreciate our veterans more than ever!  We toured the USS Midway, a Navy aircraft-carrier-now-museum docked in the bay right next to the city's downtown high-rises.

The proud veterans who were conducting tours on the USS Midway were quick to answer any questions we had.  I gained a new appreciation for the sacrifices so many made on our country's behalf.

It was quite sobering to see the tight quarters (many of which I was too claustrophobic to enter!) where the men ate, slept, and lived during the years this huge carrier - really a "city on the sea" - was in service.  

Why November 11th?  A quick history of Veteran's Day:
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War, then known as "the Great War." Commemorated as Armistice Day beginning the following year, November 11th became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars. [source]

Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor America's war dead. Veterans Day, on the other hand, honors all American veterans - both living and dead - but especially those veterans sill living who served our country and sacrificed for the freedoms we enjoy today.

Books for Veteran's Day:
The USS Midway had a great little giftshop - I immediately headed over to the kids' area with my daughter and grandson.  Of course, there were quite a few books...

We ended up buying a little sailor hat and the board book, My First Counting Book: *NAVY*, for my grandson.

"6 jets perform with amazing precision."

The last page of this little board book says it all:

HURRAY!

You just counted from 1 to 10!

HURRAH!

For the Navy's brave women and men!

Let's give a big

thank you

for all that they do, to keep our country

safe

for me and for you!

Another good read for Veteran's Day, for older children: 
The House of Sixty Fathers (click on the title to go to my past post).

A CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR AND WAR VETERAN: ROALD DAHL

Dahl in his flying gear (source here)

This Veteran's Day, consider hunting down two obscure books by much-loved British author Roald Dahl, who served his country during World War II...

Dahl was 23 years old when WWII broke out in 1939.  He joined the Royal Air Force and became a fighter pilot. He flew missions in Libya, Greece, and Syria, and was shot down in the Libyan desert, suffering serious injuries..  He was sent home as an invalid, after "surviving a direct hit at the Battle of Athens".

Eventually he was sent to Washington, D.C., where he was enlisted to help publicize the British war effort by writing a piece for THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.  His writing career was underway.  This account is from the Roald Dahl Official WEBSITE:

Roald Dahl's first book for children was not, as many suppose, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, but THE GREMLINS, a picture book published in 1943 and adapted from a script written for Disney. Walt Disney had invited the 25 year-old Roald to Hollywood, given him the use of a car and put him up at the Beverly Hills Hotel.  

The story of THE GREMLINS  focused on the mischievous spirits that, according to RAF legend, cause aircraft-engine failures.  In the end, the project to make a movie version was abandoned but the book was published.  Roald was never very keen on THE GREMLINS and didn't really think of it as a children's book.  Nevertheless, it caught Eleanor Roosevelt's eye and Roald became a not infrequent guest at the White House and at FDR's weekend retreat, Hyde Park.

“A life is made up of a great number of small incidents and a small number of great ones. An autobiography must therefore, unless it is to become tedious, be extremely selective, discarding all the inconsequential incidents in one’s life and concentrating upon those that have remained vivid in the memory.” – R.D.

GOING SOLO is Dahl's fascinating autobiography, told with the quirky, humorous style only Roald Dahl can deliver. Beginning with his travels in 1938, at the age of 22, to east Africa, he describes his experiences while working for the Shell Oil Company.  There he encounters lions and battles snakes. His descriptive memoir continues with his war exploits during World War II as an RAF pilot, when he took part in some unbelievable aeriel combat "dogfights".

Altogether, Dahl flew missions from April 1941, to June 1941, sometimes as often as five times a day. He was sent back to England when he began to experience terrible headaches from his old crash injuries that caused him to blackout while flying.

GOING SOLO (for ages 7th grade and up) is the sequel and continuation of his autobiography, BOY: Tales of Childhood.

A GOOD READ ALOUD FOR VETERANS DAY

THE HOUSE OF SIXTY FATHERS, by Meindert DeJong, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, is based on the author's own experiences while growing up in China during World War II.  DeJong's story tells of young Chinese boy named Tien Pao, who is separated from his family after the Japanese attack his village.

Tien Pao's family flees upriver in an abandoned sampan to the town of Hengyang. Tien Pao's attempts to be reunited with them result in some frightening adventures... he must travel over high mountains (and consequently through dangerous Japanese occupied territory) while trying to reach Hengyang.  He refuses to despair as he determinedly holds onto his pet pig, "Glory of the Republic", throughout his long ordeal.

He comes upon an injured American pilot and helps the man return to his unit. The pilot is a member of the Flying Tigers, and the sixty U.S. airmen in the unit become the "sixty fathers" who care for Tien Pao. You'll have to get the book to find out how Tien Pao is finally reunited with his family.

War takes its greatest toll on children, yet children can react to terrifying and dismal situations with great courage - as your children will learn from this amazing story. Books like this also help kids realize the honor and respect due to the brave men and women who have put themselves in harm's way for our protection.

Listening level - ages 8 and up.  This book is a Newbury Honor winner (1957)