This past week, as guest of a veterans’ group, I travelled to Iowa to deliver remarks on Armistice Day, on November 11, the day commemorating the end of the First World War in 1918.
Instead of offering comments typical of the day, focusing on those young soldiers who served, fought and died, my remarks dealt with the impact of that war – in particular on the people of the Arab world, and on the Arab-American community.
I titled my speech: “How ‘the war to end all wars’ planted the seeds for a century of conflict.”
Beginning in the last half of the 19th century, the US experienced a flood of immigrants from Europe and the Mediterranean regions. Many found the freedoms and opportunities this new land had promised, but it was the First World War that gave many a sense of belonging, of being fully American.
In the lobby of the club house for the Lebanese-American community in Peoria, Illinois, there are framed group photos of that community’s members who served in the military in America’s wars. There are photos from the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, as well as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Lebanese of Peoria are proud of their service to America, and you can see that pride in the faces of the young boys in the photos.
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