MFSO took action throughout the country on Armistice Day, standing with veterans and allies to remember the original remembrance of November 11th.
Bell Ringing with Southern California MFSO & VFP Chapter 110
Bell ringer Donald Pageler survivor of the June 8, 1967 Israeli attack on his ship, the USS Liberty
The ringing of 11 bells takes place every year on November 11th. Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day and for nearly 25 years Veterans for Peace has held ceremonies in cities across the country that celebrate the joy felt around the world when a ceasefire was declared at the end of World War I. That historical signing took place the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, to honor the end of a war considered so horrendous that people prayed war must never happen again. Yet it continues.
Book Talk in Orange County, CA
MFSO members and VFP chapter 110 in Orange County CA organized a book talk at Page Against the Machine Bookstore (Long Beach CA) on Armistice Day. About Face members Joy Griffin, Fernando Islas and Louis Raprager packed the room to hear what they think are the books civilians should read to learn more about our veterans. The books they reviewed were They Were Soldiers, War and Homecoming: Veteran Identity in the post 9-11 Generation and About Face author Danny Sjursen’s Ghost Riders of Baghdad.
Nancy Lessin’s Speech at Vets Say NO! Rally in Boston, MA
I’m Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, a nation-wide organization that began in November, 2002 when the drumbeats for war in Iraq were getting deafening. That fall, my stepson was on his way to the Middle East with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Radio Battalion, without congressional approval or a war being declared.
Traditionally, military families have been told to stand on the sidelines and salute, no matter how horrendously our loved ones are being used as pawns in military misadventures. We chose to SPEAK OUT, build the voice of military and Gold Star families, and join our voices with those of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Veterans For Peace, and when it was formed in 2004, Iraq Veterans Against the War – now About Face-Veterans Against the War.
Collectively, we knew better than anyone that our loved ones had all signed a contract – taken an oath to protect country and constitution — but the Bush/Cheney chickenhawk gang broke their side of that contract and sent troops off to kill and be killed in an invasion and occupation for oil markets – a war based on lies.
Fast forward to 2025 — the occupations our loved ones are now being deployed to are in our own cities – and Boston’s on the list. Calling up the National Guard – kids who signed up so they could go to college, teachers, fire fighters, our neighbors…they pledged a weekend a month and two weeks a year to prepare for floods, hurricanes, tornados, fires, natural disasters (or these days, unnatural, due to climate change). And again we hear the lies – not “Weapons of Mass Destruction” but “Crime on our Streets” (there’s crime, alright – all the kidnappings conducted by ICE). And we hear about fentanyl in Venezuelan fishing boats — seems more like regime change due to Trump seeing our oil under Venezuelan soil.
Twenty-three years ago Military Families Speak Out called bullshit on the Weapons of Mass Destruction lies, and today we call bullshit on everything the Trump Administration is doing in their march to fascism.
We are proud to stand with About Face and all the Veterans here on this Armistice Day (Armistice meaning Stand Still the Arms). We are your families, and you are our hearts. If there are any military families out there, or that any of you know who might want to join their voice to ours, send them to militaryfamiliesspeakout.com.
We know that it’s never been a politician who’s ended a war, or stopped a march to fascism – it’s always been a social movement. I want to thank everyone here for being part of that social movement.
Military Families Speak Out says: not one more day, not one more dime of tax-payer money, not one more abduction of our neighbors, and not one more lie – No ICE, No CUTS, No Military on our Streets, and NO Fascism.
