Reason.tv: "Every Day is a Bonus": Veteran's Day in DC, November 2009

November 11, 2009

On Saturday November 7, 2009 Reason.tv's Dan Hayes caught up with the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight from Wisconsin. Honor Flight is an organziation that provides World War II vets and terminally ill patients from other conflicts free travel to Washington, D.C. to tour memorials.

Hayes talks with veterans who recognize that this is not only their first visit to the World War II monument, but may well be their last trip away from home. "Every day is a bonus," is the motto of Honor Flight and it's a sentiment that rings true for the men who fought and those of us who continue to benefit from their service and sacrifice.

For more information about Honor Flight, go here.

Thanks to Joe Dean, Jane Dean, Mark Grams, Liane Baranek, Nancy and Steve Hayes, and all the guardians and the vets we spoke with Saturday.

Music by Josh Christiansen.

This video is posted at Reason.tv's YouTube channel. Go there for embed code and other videos.

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|11.11.09 @ 9:30AM|#

My parents were liberated by Canadian troops in Holland in WW2. Were it not for their skill, and compassion, I may not be here today.

EVERY day is Veteran's Day (Remembrance Day) to me.

Lest we forget,
Greater love hath no man . . .

Attorney|11.11.09 @ 9:34AM|#

Happy Veterans Day

(in memory of my father, 1924-2003, enlisted man in combat engineers in the ETO)

John Tagliaferro|11.11.09 @ 9:56AM|#

My salute to our fellow Veterans is here:
http://sukiproject.blogspot.co.....erans.html

The Gobbler|11.11.09 @ 10:01AM|#

My Great Uncle was an Armistice signatory. For the bad guys.

|11.11.09 @ 1:39PM|#

Gobbler -

Your great uncle was french?

Warty|11.11.09 @ 10:15AM|#

Dammit, I hate when things make me feel genuine emotion.

Xeones|11.11.09 @ 10:18AM|#

Good thing you're incapable of genuine emotion, Warty.

Warty|11.11.09 @ 10:23AM|#

Rage counts, fuckface.

|11.11.09 @ 11:25AM|#

The tag line for an organization that flies vets to DC is "Every day is a bonus?"

Really?

I can't be the only one who finds that phrase coupled with DC to be evocative of the shameful treatment of the veterans that made up the bonus army protesters.

|11.11.09 @ 6:20PM|#

Definitely not the only one to find that a bit inapt, mediageek.

Funny it comes up today - an Iraq vet I work with who happens to be a committed progressive and avowed socialist (his words, not mine) was trying to convince me yesterday to sign on and help him execute his plan to create a new Bonus Army to march on Washington to demand more services for homeless veterans.

|11.11.09 @ 5:07PM|#

Great job on the video. I shared it with many friends and family. My daughter called me up and thanked me for my service this morning. I thank all veterans for their service and sacrifice, but wow, the WWII guys saved all of our asses big time. As bad as things are today on many fronts, they faced some huge challenges and came out winners.

K.T.|11.11.09 @ 10:40PM|#

I thanked my father for his service. But, it got me to thinking that I really wish my grandfather had lived longer so I could appreciate, and express my appreciation for, his service during WWII. I was too young to really grasp what those folks put on the line. Today, I'm in awe of their generation.

Justen|11.13.09 @ 4:11PM|#

I don't mean to sound like I'm politicizing this, but it's amazing to see the difference between WWII veterans, who fought for a cause and country with inherent integrity, and those who have come since. Those men had no question about who and what they were fighting and dying for, and had moral conviction and proof in action that it was right. The biggest crime in the conflicts since has been the enormous psychological cost on veterans who discover long after they're deployed that they've become some petty dictator or fascist scum's disposable mercenary and have to live their lives feeling shame, rather than honor, for what their fellow men in their ignorance have asked of them.

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