I’m “cheating” on this blog post. With the holidays, visits to family… visits from family… life got busy again. Not a bad thing for a retired guy. So, I’m reposting this message from last year. It was one of my most popular blog posts.
A plethora of veteran memes and quotes float around on the Internet. I’ve found some on Facebook, some on Instagram, some I’ve seen in restaurants, and some hang on the walls of old-timey stores. I wanted to take a quick moment to share with you a few that I have come across over the years.
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to close out 2023 and am looking forward to 2024. I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year!
From “all of us” at A Veteran’s Journey.
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G.K. Chesterton
“Duty, honor, country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.” – Douglas MacArthur
“Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don’t have that problem.” – Ronald Reagan
“There is nothing more nobler than risking your life for your country.” – Nick Lampson
“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” – Elmer Davis
“Never was so much owed by so many to so few.” – Winston Churchill
“We don’t know them all, but we owe them all.” – Unknown
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” – Joseph Campbell
“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.” – Harry S. Truman
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who die. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.” – George S. Patton, Jr.
“The 80th Infantry Division Only Moves Forward.” – General Aldebert Cronkhite
“My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place—police, firefighters, and members of our armed forces.” – Sidney Sheldon
“Women who stepped up were measured as citizens of the nation, not as women… this was a people’s war, and everyone was in it.” – Col Oveta C. Hobby
“The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude.” – Jeff Miller
“Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause.” – Abraham Lincoln
“In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.” – Barack Obama
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” – Joseph Campbell
“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick
“To those in uniform serving today and to those who have served in the past, we honor you today and every day.” – Unknown
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy
“There is certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.” – Alexander Hamilton
“American without her soldiers would be like God without His angels.” – Claudia Pemberton
“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” – General Douglas MacArthur
“Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared to death.” – General Omar Bradley
“Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.” – Michel de Montaigne
“It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.” – General Norman Schwarzkopf
“I am not a hero, but the brave men who died deserved this honor.” – Ira Hayes
“I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.” – Lee Greenwood (“God Bless the U.S.A.”)
“In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.” – José Narosky
Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and the author of several books, including You Can’t Get Much Closer Than This-Combat with the 80th “Blue Ridge” Division in World War II Europe, published by Casemate Publishers (2005) and selected as the Book of the Month for the Military Book Club. His newest novel, NEVER FORGET, is the story of A Vietnam Veteran’s Journey for Redemption & Forgiveness; NEVER FORGET is offered as a FREE (PDF, eBook format) download. Adkins also writes a weekly blog, “A Veteran’s Journey.”