This video is an original presentation by
Lt. Colonel Tim Vane.
It was created for presentation at our live Loyalty Day luncheon but COVID-19 closed our venue and Colonel Vane graciously agreed to record this video for our members and the public.
Loyalty Day Thoughts to VFW Post #12135 on May 1, 2020
It’s not hard to imagine that schoolchildren in Tennessee years from now will remember May 1, 2020, as the day they were released, within suitable guidelines, from house arrest, aka, social distancing. That makes sense as most Americans mark the passage of time by big events that occur during their lives. Depending on when you were born, who doesn’t remember where they were when Pearl Harbor was bombed, when JFK was assassinated, when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon or on 9/11?
Days that are not quite as dramatic, but important, are similarly marked on all of our calendars. Go to any calendar that lists important dates and you’ll see Christmas, Easter, Passover, Ramadan, daylight savings time, Earth Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day and many others. Not that they’re not important, they are, because they mark meaningful days and events that people chart their lives by.
But, apparently, Loyalty Day isn’t one of those days and it doesn’t make the cut on any calendar one can buy commercially.
And that’s too bad. The whole idea behind the day is that the nation’s founders are remembered on Loyalty Day. It’s a day for people to celebrate their freedom while remembering their responsibilities to continue the legacy of liberty. Liberty seems like an antiquated word here in the beginning of the third decade of the 21st Century. But no matter how sophisticated we get, as Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.” It’s a rare circumstance given the history of humanity that people come together to govern themselves.
Loyalty Day was first observed in 1921 as “Americanization Day” to counterbalance Labour Day on May 1 that celebrates workers and worker movements in other parts of the world. Surprisingly, the workers movement began in the United States in the 1880s. Many workers were forced to work long hours under dangerous conditions with no safety net for them or their families should they be injured or killed.
Workers formed unions and one of these held a national convention in Chicago demanding that “eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s labor from and after May 1, 1886.” So that’s the importance of the date to many in the labor movement.
However, in many places, advocating workers and the various worker movements often became cover for socialists to foment unrest until they gained power. Too often, once in power, they abused it and became worse than the ruling class they overthrew. That legacy is also still with us today in many places around the world.
In America, however, many saw the actions of these socialist movements and responded in great numbers. On May 1, 1930, about 10,000 VFW members staged a rally at New York’s Union Square to promote patriotism. Through a resolution adopted on May 1, 1949, May 1 evolved into Loyalty Day. Observances began on April 28, 1950, and climaxed on May 1 when more than five million people across the nation held rallies. In New York City, more than 100,000 people rallied for America. On July 18, 1958, the Congress designated May 1 of each year as Loyalty Day to foster loyalty and love of country.
So while the day got its start as a response to May Day celebrations around the world, primarily by socialist/communist countries who still observe it, it’s no longer popular in the United States.
Which, when you think about it, is odd given that 90 years after the large VFW celebration, we’re still fighting the same foes of totalitarianism and socialism even as it’s been defeated time and time again.
As a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army serving in West Germany in 1980, I remember reading a magazine cover in the old U.S. News and World Report featuring a picture of a bald eagle sitting in a tree on a winter day with the caption of “America’s Lonely Role.” That was a year when the future looked bad for the U.S. Inflation, the rise of Communism across the globe, the seeming ascendance of the Soviet Union, feckless allies, the hangover of defeat in Vietnam, Europe split in two, Iranians holding Americans hostage, a sputtering economy and division at home. It’s been said that while history doesn’t repeat itself it often rhymes. What did we do then? How did we survive and prevail and relegate the Soviet Union to the dustbin of history?
Those are interesting and relevant questions given that 40 years later not much has changed. Sure, the names and faces aren’t the same but the struggle is. Consider what’s now on the national plate: unemployment, low oil prices, explosion of the national debt, social isolation, Chinese and Russian aggression around the globe, the same feckless allies, threats from North Korea and Iran, never-ending conflicts in the Middle East, division at home and fear.
And if that isn’t enough, while we’re still dealing with traditional foes, we’re also forced to confront a new one. This enemy is small, invasive, lethal and there is no cure. The Wuhan virus is another burden on a pile of them that only seem to get higher. But this one is more insidious – you can’t see it, you can’t touch it, you can’t bomb it and you can’t shoot it. But it must be attacked with energy, conviction and stamina. These are the same virtues that we’ve used to carry us through every other war we’ve been in. But that only happens if every American commits to its defeat and that’s why Loyalty Day is important. Because we can only beat all these challenges if we stay together and days like Loyalty Day remind us that, irrespective of our differences, we stand or fall together.
These generational challenges and response to tough times not only reveals character, but also where everyone’s true loyalties lie. National emergencies strip away the veneer of complacency and shine a bright light on those willing to roll up their sleeves and pitch in and those who stay on the sideline and criticize.
The only way freedom can prevail is if we stay united in the face of another struggle. The principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are there for all to see and will serve as our guide and our boundaries again in this time of struggle.
So take heart, our Founders knew all of this. Perhaps not the specific threats, but the idea that America would have great struggles that would test it severely, both from without and within. The system they constructed was strong but flexible enough to stand the strain better than any other system – before or since. Our system may not look pretty but in a few months, we’ll celebrate our 244th anniversary as a free people determined to rule ourselves. It’s the longest stretch of such an occurrence in human history and is something all of us can take a great deal of pride in and why days such as Loyalty Day matter.
It matters because it reminds us of what we have and what we can lose if we’re not vigilant and we let our petty disagreements dissolve our national compact.
Life now moves at the pace of the on-line news cycle and there often isn’t time for thought and reflection. Maybe we can make the most of these days of self-quarantine by slowing down and reflecting on what’s truly important. What’s important today is what’s always been important – faith, family and friends. Loyalty Day can give us the respite to stop and count our blessings and remember the patriots who risked their lives to bring freedom to this nation. But perhaps more than that, it reminds us of our obligation to those who came before us and to those that are to come.
Thank you.
Tim Vane
LTC, U.S. Army (Ret)
T Vane Bio