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As America celebrates Veterans Day this year, it’s worth remembering why we celebrate on November 11—and that among the more than 25 million veterans in our country today, there are a very special few who still remember what happened on that date.

Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day, and was established in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson to commemorate the armistice between the victorious Allies and the defeated Central Powers that ended World War I on November 11, 1918.

At the time, the “War to End All Wars” was the greatest conflict the United States had ever undertaken. Nearly five million Americans worldwide wore their country’s uniform during the conflict. More than 50,000 were killed in action, and another 60,000 died of war-related causes, often illnesses.

The rest came home after the fighting ended, lived through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, and parented the Greatest Generation that would go on to fight World War II.

World War I has nearly slipped out of America’s living memory—but not completely. America’s oldest veterans still remember the War to End All Wars, and as we celebrate Veterans Day this year we also honor those veterans of World War I.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates the number of World War I veterans alive today can be counted on one hand. As recently as last year, that number was 13. And a generation ago, in 1974, the Veterans of World War I of the USA organization still had a quarter-million members.

Kentucky has its own World War I-era veteran, a friend of mine named Robley Rex. At 106 years old, he is the Commonwealth’s oldest known veteran according to the state Department of Veterans Affairs. Born in 1901 in Christian County, Robley enlisted in the 28th Infantry Division and was stationed in Germany.

After leaving the Army in 1922, he came to Louisville and became a postal worker and an ordained Methodist minister. Although more than eight decades have passed since he saw active duty, for many years Robley continued to serve his fellow soldiers by volunteering at the Louisville Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

He delivered mail and medical records, and visited with other veterans—every one of them younger than he is. The Veterans of Foreign Wars honored Robley for performing more than 13,600 hours of service in 20 years.

I’m grateful for Robley Rex’s continued service, and for the service of every Kentuckian who has sacrificed for his country by joining the armed forces. As a Senator, I’ve had the honor of meeting many of the young men and women who have fought in the ongoing War on Terror. Their courage is just as inspiring as that of Americans from generations past.

Even if you’re not lucky enough to know Robley, nearly every Kentuckian knows a veteran, whether they served in war or peacetime. Kentucky’s 367,000 veterans and their families make up a quarter of our Commonwealth’s population.

There is no greater sacrifice Americans can make for their country than to wear its uniform and defend its ideals. Kentuckians have borne this burden in astounding numbers. So this Veterans Day, find a veteran and say you’re grateful for his or her service. Every one of them gave up something, and Veterans Day is the chance to thank them for that.

Senator McConnell is the Senate Republican Leader and only the second Kentuckian to lead his party in the U.S. Senate.

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Congressman John Yarmuth (D-KY3) announced Friday that they secured funding for a defense-related project at the University of Louisville.

Senator McConnell and Congressman Yarmuth included $1.28 million for the Digital Directed Manufacturing Project at UofL in the FY'08 Defense Appropriations conference report which passed Congress and is now going to the President for his signature.

“This is great news for the University of Louisville,” McConnell said. “This funding will enable researchers at UofL to continue their work to help the military produce replacement parts for equipment anywhere in the world, which will reduce maintenance down-time and lower costs.”

“UofL's work with digital directed manufacturing offers us a revolutionary technology that will significantly reduce the time and money the military spends on manufacturing,” Yarmuth said. "I am very proud of the University's ongoing commitment to innovation and pleased that we were able to help with their efforts.”

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‘We also remember this Veterans Day those who will soon be called veterans, the men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq who have volunteered to protect us in this new era’

“Eighty-nine years ago this Sunday, the guns fell silent in Europe. It was the end of a global conflict so savage that many people doubted anyone would ever want to start a war again. New technologies had clashed with old ways of fighting to create new horrors and apocalyptic battles like the Somme, which tested not only the limits of armies but our powers of comprehension.

“America had no role in starting the war, but we played a decisive one in ending it. Our Doughboys earned the gratitude of entire nations. They gave their countrymen a new sense of purpose. And America would always remember Armistice Day, as President Wilson said, with ‘solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory …’

“As we all know, the War to End All Wars did not live up to its name. Just eleven years after it ended, a former corporal from the German Army who had fought on the Western Front was already building a regime that would bring new horrors. At the end of World War I, museums were dedicated to the memory of war. But soon enough even ‘Big Willie,’ the first tank, was being rolled out of one of those museums and converted into shells and shrapnel for another terrible war.

“And again, the world would turn to America for help. More than 16 million U.S. servicemen would be called upon to defend the cause of freedom against tyranny and terror in World War II — young men like Second Lieutenant Dan Inouye from Honolulu and a 19-year-old surfer from Manhattan Beach, California, named Ted Stevens.

“It has been noted that when American servicemen came home from World War II, no one said, ‘We Won!’ They said ‘It’s over!’ Because, as President Roosevelt once observed, ‘The primary purpose of the United States of America is to avoid being drawn into war.’ When called, our young men and women have served. But when the fight is over, they just want to go home.

“And World War II was like that. Everybody just picked up where they left off, stepped right back into the assembly line, or the office, or the baseball diamond, or the boxing ring. These are the humble heroes of our country, the only aristocrats in a democracy – men and women who risk their lives so we can live in freedom and peace. And who ask nothing in return but to return to their hometowns and to carry on as they please.

“And so it’s up to us to speak well of them, to honor them in special ceremonies and songs and in this annual day of remembrance that for the last fifty-three years we have referred to simply as Veterans Day. Since 1954, Americans have paused on November 11 not just to remember the men who fought in the Great War, but those who fought in all our wars: from Valley Forge to Antietam, from the beaches of France to the jungles of Vietnam — paused to remember and to thank them for what they have done for us and for the ‘millions not yet born’ whose freedom will rest on their sacrifice.

“We also remember this Veterans Day those who will soon be called veterans, the men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq who have volunteered to protect us in this new era from new horrors and the many men and women who have died in this struggle for freedom — people like Sergeant William Bowling, of Beattyville, Kentucky, a shy but proud husband and father who was killed earlier this year by a roadside bomb while patrolling the streets of Baghdad.

“Like so many before him, Sgt. Bowling threw himself into his mission. ‘This is the job he wanted to do,’ his wife Jennifer said shortly after his death. ‘He wanted to serve his country.’

“By his courage and devotion to duty and the cause of freedom, Sgt. Bowling showed the best that Kentucky and this country have to offer. And he reminds all of us what makes this country great: young men and women who believe that serving others is greater than serving self, and who have proved it in every generation since Yorktown by making the sacrifices freedom too often demands.

“There is no greater service to our great nation than the one Sgt. Bowling gave on a dusty road in Baghdad. And there is no greater hope for humanity than men and women like him. They come from places like Honolulu and Manhattan Beach. They come from places like Beattyville.

“And we pray to God that they continue to come.”

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Recent Press Releases

Senator McConnell's Veterans Day 2007 Column

November 11, 2007

Sen. McConnell and Rep. Yarmuth Secure Funding for University of Louisville

November 9, 2007

VETERANS DAY

November 9, 2007