[Brucifer]

A war is never over until the last man (or woman) that was there goes to Heaven. WW1 is almost over.

[AnAmericanMother]

No, WWI won't be over until all of us who listened to our grandfathers' stories about Bloody Belleau Wood and the Argonne Forest are gone . . .

[Liberty Valance]

Thanks for the ping Brucifer.

[archy]

A war is never over until the last man (or woman) that was there goes to Heaven. WW1 is almost over.

I am reliably informed that the Vikings believed that so long as anyone on this mudball recalled the deeds and frequent heroism of their warriors, their spirits lived on to enjoy the pleasures of feast and drink in valhalla the Hall of the Fallen, that being one reason why the lyric poets and skaald sonmgsmiths retold of those noble acts with words and music. And eventually, when those Spirits dimmed and wafted away, it was to Go Beyond all that to reunite with the familiar spirits of the family and kin of their earlier lives. Ignorant pagan superstition? Maybe, but it worked for them, and if there's not any factual basis for it, there should be.

Hrist ok Mist
vil ek at mér horn beri,
Skeggjöld ok Skögul,
Hildr ok Þrúðr,
Hlökk ok Herfjötur,
Göll ok Geirahöð,
Randgríð ok Ráðgríð
ok Reginleif.
Þær bera einherjum öl.

[SauronOfMordor]

One additional thing about being in war: when you come home you are no longer somebody who is that easy to push around.

Notice that the black civil rights era really began in the 50's and 60's, after Truman desegregated the military, and more blacks came home with combat experience in Korea and Vietnam. When you've had people shooting at you with machineguns and lobbing grenades at you, it's harder to be impressed by some yokel in a sheet