Thank you, Veterans

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the guns fell silent on the war to end all wars in a war begun nearly a century ago. Armistice Day was a day of remembrance for those who fought and died. Eventually, here in America, Memorial Day became the holiday that we honor those that died and Veterans Day became the day to remember and thank those who served. Actually, I think over the past few years, we've been thanking on Memorial Day and remembering on Veterans Day and there's not a thing wrong with that in my book. What a sacrifice the men and women of the armed forces have made over the years to secure our freedom - to say nothing of their families who go long months, even years without their parent, spouse, sibling or child while they are serving. To give pause twice a year as a nation as well as taking a moment to personally extend our thanks the individuals we encounter in uniform is the smallest way of repaying them for all they've secured for us.

The veterans of this battlefield during the Battle of Princeton in early January 1777 no longer survive to tell their story of sacrifice - but our nation exists as a testimony to their willingness to stick it out and re-up their enlistment four days earlier when General George Washington appealed to them to stay on for just a little bit longer after their successful capture of Trenton on Christmas Day. It would take another four years and on a battlefield in Yorktown, Virginia the British Redcoats would surrender their arms and end the Revolutionary War. Some fifty years later, a century before our nation dedicated a day to honor veterans - this colonnade was erected on the battlefield in Princeton to remember the dead and honor those who fought.

The colonnade overlooks the battlefield which is marked by a few trees. I am sure it looks quite different from the battlefields our veterans have fought and served on in more recent years.

The famous Mercer oak tree that General Mercer used to support himself when he refused to leave the battlefield after being wounded was torn apart by high winds in 2000. Another oak tree was planted along side it and still grows in an enclosed fence that surrounds the root structure of the original and the new one. I guess you might say that to the local inhabitants, the original oak was a beloved veteran of the battle as it incorporated into the insignia for Princeton Township and Mercer County still used today.

The following lines are traditionally read in Canada, Britain and UK countries on November 11th, remembering those that serve and those that paid the ultimate sacrifice;

They shall not grow 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.

Thank you, veterans, we remember you and give you thanks.