Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Veterans
November 8, 2005
Larry Polyak, Scoutmaster

As I look around, I count about 50 scouts here tonight. We have a large troop. Imagine 10 rooms filled with 50 people, just like this one. that would 500 people. Now imagine 40 rooms - 2000 people. That's a lot of people!

About a week ago, we passed a grim milestone in the war in Iraq. We passed the 2000 casualty mark. Over 2000 American men and women have died in the war. That's like 40 rooms of this size with 50 people in each room. That's a very large number of people who have given their life for our country, not to mention those who who have been injured and paralyzed.

I thought I'd do some research on other wars. The Vietnam war, fought from 1964 to 1973, had far more casualties. Some of you may have seen the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. as part of your eighth grade trip or on tour before the Boy Scout National Jamboree this summer. That wall lists 58,249 names of people who perished. That's about 1,164 groups of this size! Or using ten years at the length of the war, that's about 16 Americans per day who died.

The Korean War, fought from 1950 to 1953 had 36,914 Americn casualties. World War II, from 1941 to 1945 had a staggering 407,316 American casualties. Over 4 years, that averages 279 per day. That's 279 people each day whose family would never see them again. For those of us who didn't live through it, it is hard to imagine. In the first World war, about 126,000 Americans lost their lives

Those wars had supporters and detractors. Some Americans fully supported our efforts, and some didn't. There are people now who agree that we are absolutely doing the right thing in Iraq, and there are some who say we should not be there. The thing about a Democracy is that we elect our leaders and hope they do the right thing, what the majority of us want. We are still free. Free to support their efforts or to protest it. The veterans who have died in these wars have all perished to preserve our freedom, our right to choose. They all deserve our recognition and praise.

Armistice Day started on Nov 11th, 1919 to mark the day when an agreement was signed to end the first World War. It later became Veteran's Day to honor all veterans in all wars who have worked hard to keep our country and us, free. If you drive by my house on Veteran's Day this Friday, you'll see an Amerian flag out front. I hope you'll do the same. It's the least we can do, to honor our veterans.

Thank you for listening.