On Veterans Day we honor our veterans but we must also honor the mothers and fathers who sent their sons and daughters to war. Edgar Guest (1881–1959) wrote the book Poems of Patriotism in 1942.

My maternal grandmother loved Edgar Guest poetry. My Uncle Dave, her oldest son, was a tail gunner on a B-29 when President Harry S. Truman authorized dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. When he returned from combat, Grandma gave him a book of poetry by Guest. Twenty years ago, I visited my Uncle Dave in Bozeman, Montana, arriving on Sept. 10, 2001. The next day, as I was leaving, the TV showed sh...