A word of thanks to America's veterans

William Shakespeare's sweet-smelling rose aside, names can carry a lot of meaning.

For some of our oldest Americans, those names include Bastogne and Midway and Iwo Jima.

The generation behind them, Saigon and la Drang and Khe Sanh.

Then, Mogadishu and Kandahar and Fallujah.

Those names mean a great deal to the men and women who wore the uniform of the U.S. military in such far-flung places. They remind us that this nation has gone to war to stop those bent on dominating the world, to prevent the spread of oppressive communism, to hold terrorists to account.

Wars represent at once the worst of collective humanity -- tyranny, destruction, death on unimaginable scales -- and the best of individual humans -- sacrifice, courage, service in the name of a greater ideal.

Prussian general and renowned military theorist Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz famously declared war as "the continuation of policy with other means". In other words, privates and lieutenants don't start wars. That's the purview of policymakers. Kings and queens. Presidents and prime ministers. Dictators and warlords.

But soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines do the living and dying in combat zones. They leave their homes and families and follow their flag into battles on machine gun-riddled beaches, in steamy jungles and street by street in inhospitable, often unfamiliar places a long, long way from home.

Our nation's military veterans include those who make a career out of their service and those who serve part-time in the National Guard and Reserve components. All of them play a vital role in defending our nation at war and in peacetime.

The Thursday, Nov. 2, issue of the Southeast Missourian contains our annual Salute to Veterans. Included in our coverage are stories highlighting three area residents set for induction in the Missouri Veterans Hall of Fame, recollections of a World War II airman who served in the skies above Europe and a soldier who now serves his community as a deputy sheriff. We also note some historically significant service members from Southeast Missouri and a roundup of upcoming area Veterans Day and military-related events that will provide a chance to honor those who defended our freedom.

Join us in thanking them and all their brothers and sisters in arms -- past, present and future -- for their service.

We are grateful for the sacrifices our veterans make, and as is our custom as each Veterans Day approaches, we urge our elected and appointed leaders to mint new ones only when absolutely necessary.