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Meuser scores easy victory over Wolff in 9th Congressional District

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Police: Fugitive with handgun nabbed in Hazleton

Now that the election battles are over, we can finally turn our attention to the real battle heroes.And forgive us if we are a bit early here.Veterans Day is not until Sunday. Rest assured, we will be writing more related stories as the week goes along.But we are eager to put the political fighting behind us and turn the page on this divisive season. (Though, as we write this Tuesday afternoon, we can predict with confidence some races &#8212; maybe even right here in Pennsylvania &#8212; will be so close the result will be in doubt for days or longer.)Secondly, we are turning our attention to veterans a bit early because, well, why wait until a certain day to single out our soldiers for the praise they justly deserve?The problem, however, is the heroics abroad that distinguished our fighting men and women and helped make America the most dominant force of the last century are fading into the background.Far into the background.Sure, the passing of time will always fade memories.But our lack of civic-mindedness is playing a big role as well.We know for a fact there are teenagers out there who aren&#8217;t sure who Dwight Eisenhower was. (We&#8217;ve talked to some of them ourselves.)It&#8217;s not just the youngsters, though.Some people who consider themselves students of history might have trouble explaining the significance of places like Marne, Somme and Belleau Wood.Do you know what the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was?Ever hear of a guy named John Pershing?Don&#8217;t be embarrassed if you don&#8217;t know, because there are many among us who do not.Marne, Somme and Belleau Wood, as an excellent letter to the editor from a Harding man pointed out last weekend, were significant World War I battles. The last one of those involved U.S. forces.And Meuse-Argonne was the final offensive of World War I. It involved more than 1 million American troops. With about 26,000 killed in action, the six-week campaign remains the deadliest battle in U.S. military history.The troops were commanded by Gen. John J. Pershing.We bring this up now because Sunday isn&#8217;t only Veterans Day, it marks exactly 100 years since the end of World War I.The second World War gets much more attention, and we would not try to downplay its significance, but you could argue WWI was more critical in setting the U.S. on the path to a century in power.When America declared war on Germany in the spring of 1917, it had a standing army of just 127,500, according to the Associated Press. It grew to a force of 2 million by war&#8217;s end.And despite the toll of fighting, America was proving itself as the preeminent military power in the world, a military historian told the AP.In fact, Gen. Pershing wanted to continue firing &#8212; he did so right up until the exact minute an armistice took effect. Here&#8217;s another name lost to history: Frank W. Buckles. He was the last living U.S. World War I veteran, dying at age 110 in 2011.We can&#8217;t thank old soldiers like Buckles in person any longer.But we can learn about the battles and the leaders of that era.We can make sure the younger generations know the same places and names.And we can thank the veterans still among us for their efforts near and far that have helped maintain and solidify American supremacy.The time for partisanship is over.No matter your political stripes, let&#8217;s all come together to rally around our veterans this week and make sure they are honored properly. &#8212; Times Leader<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Daisies mark the grave of World War I nurse Lillian Langdon in the Forty Fort Cemetery. Langdon, who was from Plymouth, was honored during a recent ceremony. The 100th anniversary of the end of World War I is this Sunday, which is Veterans Day. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_lillian_langdon3_faa-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Daisies mark the grave of World War I nurse Lillian Langdon in the Forty Fort Cemetery. Langdon, who was from Plymouth, was honored during a recent ceremony. The 100th anniversary of the end of World War I is this Sunday, which is Veterans Day. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>

Our View: The partisan season is over; let’s focus on real heroes