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Some Thoughts on Veterans' Day

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Some Thoughts on Veterans' Day

An Occasion to Celebrate Heroes Past, Present, and Future...

Daniel D
Nov 11, 2022
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It seems like it was a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, that I was training with my National Guard unit at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, getting ready for deployment to the formerly sovereign nation of Iraq. We were there on Thanksgiving, and a Philadelphia attorney named Eric Spevak and Post 126 of the Jewish War Veterans kindly put together a Thanksgiving Day meal for us in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

red rose on white book
Thoughts on Veterans’ Day (Photo by Selena Morar on Unsplash)

At that time, Arthur Seltzer was the commander of Post 126, and he spoke for a few minutes. Seltzer was a World War II veteran who had seen action at D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge and who had been present at the liberation of the concentration torture and murder camp at Dachau.

During his speech, and afterwards when I met him and shook his hand, Seltzer praised us for our military service. I was struck at the time by a feeling, which has not diminished since, that I was terribly undeserving of this great man’s praise. It was …

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