11 11 1918

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month 86 years ago today, the guns on the Western Front fell silent.

Four years of what we now call the First World War had come to an end.
For the first time, but not the last, American men fell on European battlefields to rescue peoples and nations from the cold dark plans of despots.

It is all too fitting that as we enter this season of giving thanks, that today we remember, lest we never forget the sacrifices those men made.

And while American men and women now fall again on foreign battlefields, we never abandon the hope and simple prayer of never again.

Someday, when our children are grown, or when their children are grown, wars will be a distant memory of the past. We cannot keep sending our young to die for the decisions made by the old. How many Beethovens , Einsteins, Gates, or ML Kings died on the battlefield before they had their chance to make their world a better place? And we are not just talking about Americans. Radical Muslims send their children to be martyrs, while they rest comfortably in their hideouts. Their god or any god you believe in, will never forgive them.

Because our history and our people show that Americans do not start wars but finish them (present day disasters excluded) , we remain hopeful that our proud nation remains, in the words of Lincoln, the last, best hope for peace on earth.