|
| United States Army Sgt. Zach Ames, center, who has been on a one-year deployment to Afghanistan, surprises his wife, Bri Ames, left, and their daughter Emersyn, right, with a reunion prior to an NFL football game between the New York Jets and the Seattle Seahawks on Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012, in Seattle. |
LOS ANGELES
(AP) -- From sea to shining sea, the nation paid tribute to its members
of the armed services Sunday, both with somber traditions such as a
Virginia wreath-laying ceremony attended by President Barack Obama to
honor those who didn't make it back from active duty, and more
lighthearted perks including red-carpet treatment at Las Vegas casinos
for those who did.
In California, a long legal
case drew to a close as a war memorial cross that had been deemed
unconstitutional was being resurrected Sunday in the Mojave desert,
capping a landmark case for veterans fighting similar battles on public
lands.
Sunday marked the official commemoration of Veterans Day, but the federal holiday will be observed Monday.
---
President
Barack Obama laid the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington
National Cemetery in Virginia and noted that this is the first Veterans
Day in a decade with no American troops fighting and dying in Iraq, and
that a decade of war in Afghanistan is coming to a close.
In
a speech at the Memorial Amphitheater, he said America will never
forget the sacrifice made by its veterans and their families.
"No
ceremony or parade, no hug or handshake is enough to truly honor that
service," the president said,
adding that the country must commit every
day "to serving you as well as you've served us."
He
spoke of the Sept. 11 generation, "who stepped forward when the Towers
fell, and in the years since have stepped into history, writing one of
the greatest chapters in military service our country has ever known."
Over
the next few years, he said, more than 1 million service members will
make the transition to civilian life. "As they come home, it falls to
us, their fellow citizens, to be there for them and their families, not
just now but always."
Later, the president and
his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden and
his wife, Jill, greeted families in the cemetery's Section 60, home to
graves of service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
---
In
California, a war memorial cross that once stood on a rocky hilltop in a
national park before being deemed unconstitutional and ordered removed
was being resurrected in the stunningly stark Mojave desert, marking the
end of a longstanding legal dispute that had become entangled in
patriotism and religion.
Henry Sandoz, who
cared for the original cross as part of a promise to a dying World War I
veteran, will rededicate a new, 7-foot steel cross on the same hilltop.
The site is now in private hands as part of a land swap with the
National Park Service that ended the legal battle.
"Judges
and lawyers may have played their roles, but it was the veterans who
earned this memorial, and it is for them it rises once more," said
attorney Hiram Sasser of the Texas-based Liberty Institute, which
represented veterans in the legal fight.
The
settlement approved by a federal judge in April permitted the Park
Service to turn over the acre of land known as Sunrise Rock to a Veteran
of Foreign Wars post in Barstow and the Veterans Home of
California-Barstow in exchange for five acres of donated property
elsewhere in the 1.6 million acre preserve, about a four-hour drive east
of Los Angeles.
The donated land was owned by Sandoz and his wife, Wanda, of Yucca Valley.
Sandoz
has cared for the memorial as a promise to World War I veteran Riley
Bembry, who with other shell-shocked vets went to the desert to help
heal and erected a wooden cross on Sunrise Rock in 1934. It was later
replaced with a cross made of steel pipes.
Then Sunrise Rock became part of the Mojave National Preserve in 1994, putting the Christian symbol on public land.
The
American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in 2001 on behalf of a
retired Park Service employee who argued the cross was unconstitutional
on government property because of the separation of church and state,
and federal courts ordered it removed.
Congress
stepped in and ordered the land swap in 2003, but the courts rejected
the transfer. The issue made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in
April 2010 refused to order the cross removed.
---
Storm-ravaged
New York hosted the country's largest Veterans Day parade with turnout
sparse along portions of the 30-block route along Fifth Avenue.
Standing in warm fall sunshine, officials said veterans should be honored and remembered more than just one day a year.
"This nation has a special obligation to take care of you," U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told the crowd.
Several officials also made a note of mentioning Vietnam veterans. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.
One Vietnam vet, 66-year-old Laurence Lynch of New York, said simply, "It's about time. It's about time."
Along a number of blocks of the parade route, just a few dozen spectators were lined along the barricades.
Candice
and Jeffrey Stark stood nearly alone on one stretch, waving tiny
American flags. "We are shocked," Candice Stark said. "Very disappointed
and terribly appalled. Don't get me started!"
The
Long Island couple was among the many residents displaced by the storm.
The military has been very visible in the Sandy cleanup, so the Starks
said they went to the parade to show their appreciation.
---
In an event befitting the nation's movie capital, the GI Film Festival Hollywood was launched this weekend in Los Angeles.
Films
at the two-day festival highlighted the successes and sacrifices of
American military personnel and the worldwide struggle for democracy,
said festival co-founder Brandon Millett. Movies must have at least one
main character, real or fictitious, who plays a military role with
respect.
The festival's mission is to preserve the stories of American vets, he said.
"We
noticed a lot of films portray GIs in an unfavorable light," said
Millett, who founded the festival with his wife, a West point graduate.
"We wanted to show the courage, the heroism and the sacrifice of men and
women in uniform."
The festival showcased
eight feature films culled from Millett's annual GI Film Festival held
in Washington, D.C., in May, and debuted short films made by filmmakers
who are veterans. It also recognized actors for their contributions to
the U.S. Armed Forces and held a fundraising auction to benefit the
Semper Fi Fund, which aids wounded Marines and their families.
"We show all aspects of the GI experience, in the arena of war and when they come home," Millett said.
---
Chicago's
National Veterans Art Museum unveiled its latest exhibit called
"Welcome Home" as it celebrated its grand reopening in a new location.
"`Welcome
home' is the customary message given to soldiers returning from war," a
museum statement said. "After this initial greeting, familiarity
dissolves and the traumas of war surface. Veterans set out to relearn
the world they left behind, and their family meets a transformed
person."
The exhibit is part of a series that
examines the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the rising need for mental
health care for returning veterans
The museum
has more than 2,500 works of veterans' art with the mission of inspiring
greater understanding of the real impact of war with an emphasis on
Vietnam. The museum focuses art inspired by combat and created by
veterans.
---
A Las Vegas casino rolled out the red carpet for some 60 injured veterans in a special Veterans Day weekend trip.
The
annual "Salute to the Troops" weekend started with free American
Airlines flights for veterans and their guests and a welcoming committee
of MGM Resorts employees Thursday.
Employees held welcome signs, waved flags and chanted "USA" as the honored guests arrived.
MGM
Resorts is hosting the veterans free at the Mirage Hotel and Casino,
and treating them to a variety of attractions and shows during the
five-day trip that ends Monday.
Their
itinerary includes a ventriloquist show, a trip to the Secret Garden and
Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage, and the Aviation Nation air show at
Nellis Air Force Base.
