Today is Veterans Day, the day we honor all those who served in the American armed forces. To show their appreciation, many restaurants are offering free meals to vets today, and some places are holding parades. This is the least we can do for our brave veterans who risked their lives to secure our freedom, some of which who paid the ultimate price. Thank you, veterans, for your service.
I wanted to emphasize that, because I’m a Civil War author, the fact that all Confederates were essentially declared American war veterans is easily overlooked these days.
Confederate soldiers, sailors, and Marines who fought in the Civil War were made U.S. Veterans by an act of Congress in in 1957. U.S. Public Law 85-425, Sec 410, Approved 23 May, 1958, gave Confederate veterans the same legal status as U.S. veterans in terms of pension rights. This made all Confederate Army/ Navy/ Marine Veterans equal to U.S. Veterans. Additionally, under U.S. Public Law 810, Approved by the 17th Congress on 26 Feb 1929, the War Department was directed to erect headstones and recognize Confederate gravesites as U.S. war dead gravesites. Just for the record, the last Confederate veteran died in 1958. So, in essence, when you remove a Confederate statue, monument or headstone, you are in fact, removing a statue, monument or head stone of a U.S. VETERAN.
This, in my opinion, is why it is so offensive to be taking down statues and monuments representing Confederate soldiers, because they are honoring our American war vets. My father, who was a Marine in the Korean War, would be ashamed of what America has become, and how disrespectful it is. (I’m glad he’s not alive to see this.) I feel it is our responsibility to stand up to tyranny and put a stop to it.