Welcome Home Iraq Veterans

“Around 800,000 veterans are jobless, 1.4m live below the poverty line, and one in every three homeless adult men in America is a veteran. Though the overall unemployment rate among America’s 21m veterans in November (7.4%) was lower than the national rate (8.6%), for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan it was 11.1%. And for veterans between the ages of 18 and 24, it was a staggering 37.9%, up from 30.4% just a month earlier.”

“Whatever the cause, this bleak trend is occurring as the last American troops leave Iraq at the end of this year, and as more than 1m new veterans are expected to join the civilian labour force over the next four years.”

–”A hard homecoming,” The Economist

Related: USA Leaves Iraq?

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Image: WWI poster. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit NotionsCapital.com

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The Last Doughboy

Frank Buckles died last Sunday at the age of 110. Mr. Buckles drove an Army ambulance in France in 1918 and was the last U.S. veteran of World War I. 

“Frank Buckles, Last World War I Doughboy, Is Dead at 110,” Richard Goldstein, New York Times

Learn more at FrankBuckles.org and the Veteran’s History Project.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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Rolling Thunder 2009

Rolling Thunder is back. The annual motorcycle event, originally conceived to draw attention to the plight of Vietnam-era POWs and MIAs (“Operation Rolling Thunder” was the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam) but it has grown into a roaring tribute to all of America’s military veterans.

Contingents of cyclists come from across the country, and salutes roar past armed service monuments. The largest tribute starts at Noon Sunday at Arlington Cemetery, crosses the Potomac over the beautiful Memorial Bridge, circles the National Mall, and stops near the Vietnam Memorial, where many riders will dismount, then quietly look for the names of fallen comrades and loved ones on The Wall. Music and oratory will complete the afternoon.

Many Washingtonians bring cameras to the DC end of Memorial Bridge to shoot “The Ride for Freedom,” but many hesitate to photograph dismounted riders at the Vietnam Memorial — it feels emotionally wrong, an invasion of privacy. But do go to The Wall. Unlike the triumphal military monuments spread across the Capital City, it does not glorify war, but memorializes sacrifice in a profoundly human way.

 

For more on the meaning of the National Vietnam Memorial, read The Last Firebase, by Lydia Fish.

Image by Mike Licht.

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

New Job for Bush

You may be out of work, but George W. Bush has a new job. The former president is using his legendary oratorical skills to forge a new career, Mike Allen reported in Politico. After hearing the news, David Letterman’s writers required oxygen.

Mr. Bush is booked to give ten speeches this year in Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He is represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau. The agency’s motto: “Inspiration from the World’s Greatest Minds.” Really.

Media Alert — Caution, Real News in DC This Weekend

We hate to disturb working reporters covering the vital Celebrity Inaugural Ball lobster-booze-caviar beat, but real news may break in Washington this weekend. Okay, real political news, but that’s as close to “reality” as most remaining Washington scribes get these days.

Sleep-deprived, hung-over DC reporters should report to Howard University at 11AM Sunday for Chapel Call.  Stop groaning — it’s a story. The speaker will be Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Pastor Emeritus of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. 

The nondenominational Chapel Call will be held at Howard’s huge Cramton Auditorium to accommodate the expected crush of Fox News, National Review, and Washington Times reporters. Just joshing — the popular weekly event outgrew Rankin Chapel and moved to Cramton long ago.

G.W. Bush — A Veteran’s Next Job?

In just a few weeks, George W. Bush will declare “Mission Accomplished” and leave Washington for Texas. What will he do after January 20th?

Daughter Jenna told Larry King her father wants to be Baseball Commissioner, but the President’s controversial  investment history with the Texas Rangers franchise makes that unlikely. And our best MLB players tend to be Latino immigrants, who might worry that a Commissioner Bush would surround team dugouts with a 20-foot-tall steel fence.

Mr. Bush loves to clear brush, so we have another job suggestion: caretaker of the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, 11463 State Highway 195 at Chaparral Road, about six miles south of U.S. 190, in Killeen, TX. Mr. Bush has introduced thousands of young Americans to such facilities; this job would give him daily opportunities to admire his handiwork.

DC Doughboys of WWI

First Lieutenants A. Maurice Curtis, Arthur L. Curtis, and Merrill H.Curtis, sons of Dr. and Mrs. A.M. Curtis of Washington, DC.

Quick! Contact the DC Historical Society (RSVP@historydc.org or 202-383-1828) and RSVP so you can attend this afternoon’s program, Forgotten Soldiers: The District’s Black Doughboys of WWI, 2 PM to 4 PM. Space is limited, but what better way to observe Veteran’s Day. November 11th was originally known as Armistice Day, marking the end of hostilities in the Great War (World War I) in 1918.

Gretchen Roberts-Shorter will read excerpts from the unique war diary of her uncle, Dr. Roy Plummer, and historian C. R. Gibbs will discuss the First Separate Battalion, District of Columbia National Guard, awarded the Croix de Guerre for distinguished gallantry in action.

Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
801 K Street, NW (at Mount Vernon Square)
Washington, DC 20001
202.383.1850
info@HistoryDC.org

(Information on the First Separate Battalion may also be found in E.J. Scott’s The American Negro in the World War.)

More November events are listed in the Historical Society of Washington, DC newsletter.

Historical Society of Washington website

November 11th in Washington, DC

The U.S. Congress taxed them. Congress declared war and sent them to serve. Some were wounded and some died defending our country, all without representation in that same U.S. Congress. Who are they? The citizens of the District of Columbia who have served in our armed forces.

Meet DC’s veterans today, Veteran’s Day, Noon to 1:30 PM, at Upper Senate Park, Delaware and Constitution Avenues, NE, near the Russell Senate Office Building, between the Capitol and Union Station. Join themas they rally for the DC Vote.

Miss Congeniality Rocks GOP Convention

Sarah Louise Heath Palin, Governor of all 670 000 Alaskans, energized the Republican Base at the Republican Convention last night, causing a brief shortage of blood pressure medication in the St. Paul area. As Vice President, Governor Palin said, she will employ the same administrative skills she used as Mayor of Wasilla, AK (population then: 5500). That means she and John McCain will hire a City Administrator to do their jobs so they can spend their time trying to ban books in public libraries and and keep Sex Ed out of classrooms.

In her prepared remarks, Governor Palin chastised “Community Organizers” and their failed, unAmerican methods of “Self-Help” and “Citizen-Involvement.” Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Palin (and suburban sprawl from nearby Anchorage), Wasilla today is a thriving metropolis of beautiful big box stores and spacious parking lots. The population has grown to nearly 8,000, as Sarah Palin is an ardent proponent of Abstinence-Only Sex Education.

National Mall Improvements Cancelled

 

On a sad day for the grandeur of our Nation’s Capital, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has rescinded maps showing the National Mall as a flood zone. City officials have promised that a stronger levee system will be in place within a year.

NotionsCapital has counted on flooding to improve the unspeakably hideous World War II Memorial unaccountably inflicted on the National Mall when it clearly belongs to Mussolini’s Rome.

FEMA: See how flooding improves the World War II Memorial? Please reconsider.

U.S. Commission of Fine Arts: it is not too late to atone for your grievous aesthetic sin. Lean on FEMA now and flood this ugly embarrassment with the waters of the majestic Potomac.

 

Image by Mike Licht, whose Daddy was in WWII, so spare us comments about the intent of the memorial. It looks horrible. Download a free image of the flood-improved sculpture here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com