I often write about freedom and liberty, but mostly in terms of the very real threats to, and the diminution of, both of these precious commodities.

Today, Veterans Day in the United States, should focus us on the price more than a million others have paid over the centuries to win and preserve our American freedoms.

And this day should remind us of the need to take up and continue the unending battle in which they gave their last full measure of devotion.

The first Veterans Day (then called Armistice Day) commemorated the armistice at 11:00 A.M. on November 11, 1918, that ended the bloody First World War in which those American "Yanks" played an important part.

Armistice Day is the anniversary of the symbolic end of World War I on 11 November 1918. It commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany at Rethondes, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o’clock in the morning ??? the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month".

The Civil War

In America’s bloodiest conflict, the Civil War, (or the War of Northern Aggression, as some of my southern friends still call it), many more soldiers died in a few hours at the battles at Antietam Creek, Gettysburg or Fredericksburg than have fallen during the entire Iraq war.

But there is a rough and final equality among every one of the dead from the Revolutionary War and all other wars right down until this very day.

These Americans, young and old, died before their time, much of their promise unrealized, and in the service of their country. President Lincoln at Gettysburg uttered a string of negatives — "we can not dedicate; we can not consecrate; we can not hallow this ground" — to express our inability ever to understand fully or recognize sacrifice of this degree.

Lincoln???s Sage Advice for Us

But Lincoln did suggest that we ought to at least make the attempt to remember, understand and rededicate ourselves to the cause for which they died. How many Americans today known and understand the history that bought them their freedom?

It’s been many Veterans Days, usually nice, inviting ones bathed in autumnal colors and anticipation of coming Thanksgiving family gatherings, since this country felt truly mortally threatened, notwithstanding the current economic difficulties.

The horrors of the 20th century wars are receding into distant memory, though 9/11 and Iraq brought some new ones.

Despite the subsequent wars and security alerts, the call to duty and service remains distant and unreal to too many Americans.

As we enter this holiday season, remember the list of the Iraq war dead from the last five years and be reminded that, for some among us, the call to duty was immediate and real. And we should honor that service with our own re-dedication to the principles and the country that so many have given their lives to defend.

As former president and founding father John Adams once said, ???You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.???