The German Bundeswehr Association (DBwV) has reiterated its call for a veterans day. “A veteran’s day, public ceremonies or the promotion of other military rituals can help those returning home to find their place in the middle of society,” said the association’s deputy chairman, Marcel Bohnert, to the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”.
The chairman of the reservists’ association, Patrick Sensburg, said something similar in the newspaper: “Our veterans of the Bundeswehr must find much more recognition and attention in our society.”
The Bundeswehr Association proposes September 9 or 16 of this year as the first date. This is the beginning and end of the Invictus Games, international sports competitions for physically or mentally injured soldiers, which are being held in Germany for the first time this year.
According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Defense said Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) could well imagine a Veterans Day. The initiative for this should come from Parliament.
A veteran of the Bundeswehr is anyone who is in active service as a soldier in the Bundeswehr or who has left this service in an honorable manner. This means that almost all current and former members of the Bundeswehr are veterans.
The idea of a veterans’ day had already been brought up in 2012 by the then Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) – there was criticism from the SPD at the time.
