AS I SEE IT
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
On Nov. 11, Americans will take time on Veterans Day to pause and give thanks to all the men and women who have served this great country in one of the branches of the United States military. And considering that these brave men and women, who come from backgrounds as diverse as is this country, are willing to go into harm’s way to protect this great country speaks volumes about their love of the United States.
Setting aside one day a year to honor America’s veterans is the least that all of us can do to honor and recognize these true patriots.
But this year’s Veterans Day also marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I when on Nov. 11, 1918, fighting came to an end following the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany that called for a ceasefire effective at 11 a.m. - it was on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
More than four million American families sent their sons and daughters to serve in uniform during the Great War. Of those that served, 116,516 U.S. soldiers gave their lives in combat, while another 200,000 were wounded, a casualty rate far greater than in World War II.
More than 350,000 African Americans served in the U.S. military, as did Native Americans and members of other minority groups. And, for the first time, women joined the ranks of the U.S. armed forces.
Of those thousands of American soldiers who died in World War I in the defense of freedom and liberty, according to a new study by noted historian Barbara Handy-Marcello, 13 McKenzie County servicemen were among the nearly 1,400 North Dakotans who lost their lives in the “Great War.”
On this Veterans Day, it is only appropriate to recognize those McKenzie County soldiers who died in service of their country during World War I.
Charles Anderson, Schafer (DOD)
John Anderson, Schafer (DOD)
William Everett Boss, Schafer (DOD)
Samuel John Dagg, Schafer (DOW)
Ermiston Oscar Douglas, Schafer (DOD)
August Havervold, Schafer (DOD)
Elmer W. Hodge, Schafer (KIA)
Walter C. Huff, Schafer (DOD)
John G. Jacobson, Schafer (DOD)[UND]^
Walter L. Johnson, Schafer (DOD)[UND]^
Henry Edward Lanhart, Alexander (DOD)
Clyde Arthur Neer, Alexander (DOA)
Arthur Julius Nelson, Schafer (DOD)
Arne Pederson, Schafer (DOD)
George A. Potel, Watford City (DOW)
John William Ramsey, Charbonneau (DOD)[UND]^
Carl Edwin Rogen, Watford City (KIA)
Charlie Redman Schoonover, Schafer (DOD)
Clarence B. Snow, Schafer (DOD)
Joseph J. Taylor, Schafer (DOD)
Albert Vandermeer, Watford City (KIA)
Forrest Eugene Williams, Schafer (DOD)
Alfred R. Wolcott, Schafer (KIA)
Albert Wormdahl, Arnegard (KIA)
Key: Killed in Action (KIA), Died of Disease (DOD), Died of Wounds (DOW), Died of Accident (DOA), ^University of North Dakota Student Army Training Corps
As President Dwight Eisenhower, who signed the law changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day, said in one of his addresses, “it is well for us to pause, to acknowledge our debt to those who paid so large a share of freedom’s price. As we stand here in grateful remembrance of the veterans’ contributions we renew our conviction of individual responsibility to live in ways that support the eternal truths upon which our Nation is founded, and from which flows all its strength and all its greatness.”
America owes its veterans a debt of gratitude.