Veterans have been the most crucial, substantial and significant resources to our nation’s history and future thus far. Not only are they the creators of the history that has so greatly affected our nation, but they are the key figures who make sure the history is as accurate and honest as the day it was made. Veterans are the nation’s very first history teachers as they have informed and still continue to educate society regarding the historical significance they were a part of. One of the very beneficial parts about being able to learn the history of our nation is the government and the people’s understanding of the negative aspects. We are informed to try and keep history from repeating itself with the education of the events that impacted both our country and other countries involved such as the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War was a foreign war that like any other, killed millions of soldiers and innocent civilians from the United States and mostly from Vietnam. The war in Vietnam was known to be one of the more controversial wars in the United States history. During a time in which people were filled with a desire for peace, most were entirely against the United States’ entering into the Vietnam war. This discontent with the nation’s entering into the war eventually led to the society’s disrespect and hatred of the veterans who just came home from fighting for democracy in all of Vietnam. This disrespect shown to the veterans and controversial war we entered reminds us that we should only enter conflicts and wars if undeniably necessary and honor the veterans with the highest level of respect possible. Rather than enter a countless number of fatal wars and kill millions more soldiers and innocent bystanders, the history of negative outcomes from these wars that we are already aware of can help prevent conflicts or wars in the future because of veteran teachings.

Veterans have been credited with keeping our nation’s history truthful and ingenuous from the past to the present and eventually future to make it known and never forgotten. Veterans are the resources who pass on the true history to family, friends and all of society. Many people tend to question whether or not events in history have actually happened. For instance, people have questioned whether the Holocaust in Germany with Adolf Hitler’s killing of millions of innocent Jewish people, homosexuals, etc. ever occurred. However, with veterans who fought to end the cruelty and desired world domination of Hitler in World War II, it is certain that these events did occur despite the controversy.

With roughly six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, whether it be from starvation, gas chambers, or even by illness, it is hard to try and forget the tragedy or believe it never happened in the first place. The veterans are society’s resources in expressing the truth of the matter, in expressing that the Holocaust did happen regardless of what people want to believe.

We now know how to act when a conflict arises, whether it directly or indirectly involves us, because of the history we have been informed of by veterans. For example, ISIS, a terrorist group whose name stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which has killed hundreds of innocent bystanders, is using the same type of violence that we have seen throughout history. However, with the information we know through veterans who have lived through or experienced fatal conflicts such as this one, we have the knowledge to control ourselves and troops from attacking in the future until we, or one of our allies, feel that we have been personally threatened.

Veterans are the key figures in our nation’s history who have lived through and first-handedly experienced the history we know today and can affect the future ahead. With this honest historical information given to us from those who were a part in creating the history, we are able to avoid conflicts and keep history from repeating itself for future reference.

[Heather Hallock is a 12th-grade student in the Eldred Central School District. The essay above won the local contest sponsored by VFW Post 6427 District 2. It was then entered into the statewide contest, and was judged fourth place overall in all entries from New York State. Heather is a student in Maureen Petkus’ composition class, taught in cooperation with Sullivan County Community College. She is the daughter of Tim and Linda Hallock of Highland Lake, NY.]