Veterans Day / Armistice Day

Today is Veterans Day (US) or Armistice Day. "Happy" seems an odd word to tack on to either one, but it's an important day to remember.

So to all the veterans I know--and don't know--thank you. This includes my father, my great uncle, my husband and father-in-law, my good friend Nathan, my ex-husband and his father...and many, many more.

There are many books about war, in all centuries, non-fiction and fiction. If you are interested in a slightly biased account that is an excellent first-hand depiction, I recommend The Ladies From Hell, by R. Douglas Pinkerton.

He was a Scot who penned a fairly short, terse memoir that includes enough of the horrors of trench warfare to give an idea of what these men--mostly very young men--went through.

At present, there are several modern mystery authors who write of the post WWI period, including Jacqueline Winspear, who writes the Maisie Dobbs series.

An excellent post WWI (Great War) mystery of the Golden Age of mystery is Dorothy L. Sayers's The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Her own husband, Mac, was a veteran who suffered from mustard gas damage and shell shock.

So, again: thank you everyone, for serving your country.

Veterans Day

Or, if you're in the UK, Armistice Day, I believe. In other places, Remembrance Day.

In any case, it is the 11th day of the 11th month and hearkens back to the armistace of the Great War (WWI).

Thank you to all the veterans out there, past and present.

Specifically, I would like to thank my father, my husband, my father-in-law, my great uncle, my ex-husband and his father, and all those whom I know personally for serving in the U.S. miliary services. (Happy birthday, too, Nathan.)

If you are interested or curious in the history of this day, and about other veterans, go to this website:

http://www.loc.gov/vets/

Excuse the lack of a proper link; Blogger, for some reason, is making them invisible when the code is added.

Just copy and paste it into your browser window.