Quotes January 21, 2022

“As Red Tails, we are together for a brief moment in time, placed in each other’s lives to accomplish something bigger than any individual or unit, and all for the betterment of our nation,” Stahl said at the awards ceremony. “We will not squander this opportunity.”
Lt. Col. Brian Stahl
 
 
 
 
“If they had lost more of those bombers, there would be less of us,” said Terance “T.J.” Spann, President of the Tidewater Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. “I hope you take away an appreciation of what they accomplished and how many lives they actually saved.”
 
 
 
 
Your name is unknown. Your deed is immortal.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Moscow)
 
 
 
 
“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”
Civil rights leader and formerly enslaved worker Frederick Douglass, 1863, in remarks encouraging the enlistment of African American soldiers during the Civil War.
 
 
 
 
“The unparalleled perseverance of the armies of the United States, through almost every possible suffering and discouragement for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing miracle.”
General (and future President) George Washington, 1783, in his farewell orders to the Continental Army.
 
 
 
 
“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated [this ground], far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”
President Abraham Lincoln, 1863, in the Gettysburg Address.
 
 
 
 
“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory.”
President Woodrow Wilson, 1919, in proclaiming Armistice Day (which would later become Veterans Day) on the anniversary of the end of World War I.
 
 
 
 
“I saw your sons and your husbands, your brothers and your sweethearts. I saw how they worked, played, fought, and lived. I saw some of them die. I saw more courage, more good humor in the face of discomfort, more love in an era of hate, and more devotion to duty than could exist under tyranny.”
Comedian Bob Hope, 1944, in “I Never Left Home,” his book about going on tour to entertain the troops, which he did in every U.S. conflict from World War II to the Persian Gulf War.
 
 
 
 
“The nicest veterans…the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who’d really fought.”
Author Kurt Vonnegut, 1969, in “Slaughterhouse-Five,” his novel about the Allied firebombing of Dresden during World War II.
 
 
 
 
“Homeless and at-risk veterans need more than just shelter. We must give them the tools to empower themselves and reclaim the self-worth and dignity which comes from occupying a place in the American dream. It is a dream they fought so hard to defend for the rest of us.”
Homelessness advocate and film producer Maria Cuomo Cole, 2015, in an editorial pointing out that tens of thousands of vets are homeless.
 
 
 
 
“We cannot just keep worshipping veterans. They’re just people. They’re people who did a job. It’s a dirty, nasty, demanding job.”
Iraq War veteran and author Roy Scranton, 2016, in an interview with a reporter.