America Must Never Forget Its Veterans and Their Sacrifices

0:00 Speaker 1 Veterans Day. Well, on Wednesday is Veterans Day officially on November 11th, like it is every year. And this is Veterans Day weekend. And with us today is Jack Jacobs, and he’s a retired colonel, Medal of Honor recipient, and one of the best, best people I know in the Armed Forces community. past, present, and future. Jack Jacobs, give

0:34 us an update. How are our armed forces, how are our veterans, how are our Medal of Honor recipients that used to be on the board?

0:45 Speaker 2 Well, you know, we’ve got only 65, I think, recipients still alive. When I was decorated, there were almost 400, including a bunch of them who had served in the First World War, And even before, there was a living recipient from the Boxer Rebellion who was still alive when I was decorated. Now there are only 65 of us left.

1:10 But more to the point, we used to have lots and lots of veterans, and we have fewer and fewer of them, at least partially, because old ones are getting really, really old and are dying off. And when we decided that we were going to have an all-volunteer for us, We wound up having fewer and fewer veterans because we

1:34 had fewer people serving. Today, most Americans don’t know anybody in uniform. And people who listen to you, John, I think focus their attention all the time on the fact that freedom isn’t free and there are people who are serving and sacrificing so that we can enjoy freedom. But most of the population doesn’t know that. Because they don’t

1:58 know anybody in uniform. We forget that there are people out there right now who are serving to protect our freedom. And it’s easy to forget that they’re out there doing that when most people don’t have any, haven’t made a contribution to the defense of the republic like we did, let’s say, during the Second World War. So it’s really important.

2:24 that people like you continue to beat the drum about how lucky we are to have freedom and, secondly, to have the kids who are out there right now who are protecting it for us. We’re lucky to have all these kids. And I hope we continue to have people of dedication and purpose going into the future to preserve

2:49 what people who sacrificed, who came before us, gave us, John.

2:54 Speaker 1 I understood. Do you find, you know, you’re around our country a lot, and you used to teach at West Point. Do people appreciate our veterans as much as they did 20 years ago, 30 years ago?

3:12 Speaker 2 Well, they do only when you remind them of it. You know, I grew up in the projects in Long Island City and Queen’s, Every one of my friends’ fathers had served. My father was dragooned into the Army out of college and served with the Army, fought in New Guinea and the Philippines. His whole generation had really saved

3:38 the world. And everybody had served. We had something like 19 or 20 million people in uniform during the Second World War. And people today... do appreciate the efforts, the exertions of people who are making them free and keeping them free, but only when you remind them about it.

4:01 Because most people are not making the contributions that they did years and years ago. And we should make no mistake about it. Times are as dangerous as they’ve ever been. They’re getting more complicated, more difficult to deal with, and Our enemies are still out to get us. You know, there’s an old saying, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean

4:29 that people aren’t out to get you. They’re out to get us. And we need to redouble our efforts to make sure that our defense is as strong now as it was 80 years ago when we defeated our enemies during the Second World War, John.

4:48 Speaker 1 Understood. Well... Jack Jacobs, I want to thank you for coming on and thank you for your service. Thank you for everything you’ve done for our country and to continue to speak out for our country and continue to speak out for our Medal of Honor recipients and continue to speak out for our veterans. God bless America. May America

5:09 always be strong and may America always keep America safe. Thank you so much.

5:14 Speaker 2 John, thank you so much for being the patriot that you are.

5:17 Speaker 1 God bless. God bless.