Veterans Day: LESSONS OF LIBERTY at Camp Linus

Books about Veterans Day Guest Speaker The American Flag
Scout Questions Government Websites Speech by President Bush

At Camp Linus, we read two books about Veterans Day:

Veterans Day
by Mir Tamim Ansary
The Wall
by Eve Bunting

As we read these books, we learned that a veteran is anyone who has been or is in the armed forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard).

We also learned about the meaning of...

Peace Peace is when people and countries are getting along. They aren't fighting with each other.
Liberty Liberty is when one is free to make his/her own choices.
Honor To honor someone or something is to remember and respect that person or thing as being special and important. On Veterans Day, we have a moment of silence to honor peace and to honor the veterans.
Democracy A country is a democracy when all the adults get to vote on what the laws, and who the leaders, of the country will be. The majority (most votes) win.
Vote When there is a choice to be made between different options, a vote is when one person says which option he/she wants. Whichever option has the most votes is the one that most people want, and so that one wins.
Elect People elect the person who gets the most votes. Elect means "choose to be the winner."
Dictator A dictator is the leader of a dictatorship. In a dictatorship, people don't have a voice in how the country is run. The dictator doesn't care what the people want. In a dictatorship, people don't get to vote. They can't choose who their leader will be or what the laws will be. The dictator makes any rules and laws that he/she wants.

We learned that Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day, and that it was started by President Woodrow Wilson on the day that World War 1 ended (November 11, 1918). Armistice means "to stop fighting."

Every year, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (November 11th at 11 a.m.), there are 2 minutes of silence to honor all of the veterans who have given or risked their lives so that we may have peace and freedom in our lives.

We talked about how there are some people in the world who don't want anyone to ever have peace and freedom. They are like bullies. They just want to keep fighting and ordering people around. They won't stop unless good people find them and make them stop. In war, we are finding and stopping those bullies so that they won't be able to keep hurting people.


OUR GUEST SPEAKER
We were fortunate to have Jim Davis, a veteran in Endicott, now with the American Legion (George F.Johnson Post 1700), visit our class on Friday.

Mr. Davis was stationed in France until 1960. His job was to repair the planes and trucks. After being in the military, he was a school bus driver.

Mr. Davis told us that Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 after the Korean War. He told us that the word "armistice" came from the word "armor" worn in battle long ago. He also told us about...


SCOUT QUESTIONS

The scouts of Camp Linus had a lot of great questions for Mr. Davis. Here are some of them:

SCOUT
QUESTION
ANSWER
Ryan Sch. Are names on both sides of The Wall? Names are only on one side.
? How big is The Wall? The Wall is about 500 feet long and 10 feet high. There are almost 60,000 names on it.
Jessica Why is The Wall warm? (This question is a result of our reading the book, The Wall, by Eve Bunting, that describes the wall as feeling warm.) The Wall is black which is a sad and warm color.
Nikki How long did it take to make your uniform? The jacket is called the "Eisenhower Jacket." Before Dwight Eisenhower was President, he was a famous general in the army and wore a jacket like this.
? I saw people in Afghanistan on TV burning our flag. Why are they doing that? Some people don't like us because they don't like our freedom.
Dustin What are campaigns? They are different actions in war.
Mike How hard is it to survive being in a war? It depends what you are doing in the war. People in our military are very well trained and that makes it easier. But war is hard.

LINKS
to what President Bush and the
U.S. Government have to say about
LESSONS OF LIBERTY
and
VETERANS DAY

On October 30, 2001, President Bush asked schools to have Lessons of Liberty during the week of Veterans Day (the week of November 11th).

Click on Lessons of Liberty to learn more.

Click on Text of President Bush's Speech to read what President Bush addressed to students.

If the text of the speech is not available, click here.

Click on Veterans Day to visit a U.S. Government website that gives information about:

  • The Origins of Veterans Day
  • The United States Flag (about the stars and sripes)
  • Guidelines for displaying the Flag
  • "Old Glory" - how the Flag became known as "Old Glory"
  • When is the American Flag flown at Half Staff?
  • The Pledge of Allegiance
  • The American Bald Eagle
  • The Star Spangled Banner
  • The Story of Taps
  • Arlington National Cemetery
  • School Activities for Veterans Day


Click on Citizenship Merit Badge to learn about other patriotic activities at Camp Linus.


Click on the Beagle Scout to go back to Camp Linus.