Axar.az presents an article, "This Veterans' Day” by John Samuel Tieman.

I am a member of the City Council in University City, Missouri. I am also a veteran of the Vietnam War. At our council meeting on 10 November 2025, I gave the following speech.

Honorable Mayor, my fellow Council Members, my fellow citizens:

Veteran's Day is tomorrow, so it seems appropriate now to speak of this holiday. Because the subject is complex, I will address two brief topics: first, one meaning of Veterans' Day, and, second, one price of Veterans' Day. And, lastly, a few words of gratitude.

Veteran's Day and Memorial Day are often confused. Veteran's Day is for all who served in the Armed Forces. Memorial Day is for the dead. It is just as well that we confuse these terms. It reminds us of how these days are too often about barbecue and beer rather than service and duty.

Tomorrow, someone somewhere will say, “We celebrate all who wore the uniform, heroes all.” I don't doubt the good intentions. But it's cliched. “Hero” is so overused that it's now almost meaningless. A TV segment I saw notwithstanding, someone who adopts puppies is not a hero. Nice, but not a hero. The difference is one of definition. It's also one of dignity. It's the difference between congratulation and commemoration. There are real heroes, don't get me wrong. But in addition to the word “hero”, let us speak more often the word “remember”. Remember the veteran's name. Remember that this man, this woman, wore with honor the uniform of democracy, the uniform of the republic. Remember, they answered the call to duty, the summons of the trumpet. Remember the service. Remember. That's one meaning of Veterans' Day.

As for the price, consider just this one. At a time in their lives when they should have been working on the skills of intimacy, our war veterans found themselves sharpening a bayonet, clearing a minefield, cleaning an M-16 instead of dry cleaning that suit, or that long black dress, for a date. It’s easy to say that war deprives folks of their lives, their limbs. We also deprive many a soldier of psychic wholeness. It’s painful to speak of Audie Murphy, our most decorated soldier of World War II, having flashbacks during which he held his wife at gunpoint.

I'm idealistic. I'm not naive. Wars are often misguided, and fought for all the wrong reasons. But no 19 year old ever enlisted so that a corporation could post a higher quarterly dividend. There are a lot of reasons for enlistment. Among them are the ideals of democracy and the republic. Today, the democratic republic is under threat. It is well that we enlist, if you will, these elemental ideals, democracy, the republic.

On November the 11th, we honor all living veterans. That said, we are remiss if we do not take a moment to pay homage to those who gave “the last full measure of devotion.” As the modern poet, Laurence Binyon, wrote of those lost in World War I –

​They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

​Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

​At the going down of the sun and in the morning

​We will remember them.

And all veterans have said softly, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

But we did come home. We live in a city we love, University City. We live in a republic we love. We live in a democracy we love. And we are free. On behalf of my city, I say to you, my fellow veterans, this one simple thing. Thank you. Thank you on behalf of your neighbors.