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Katie Couric's Notebook: War

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, a treaty brought an end to "the war to end all wars," World War One.

On this day we remember and celebrate all the heroes...and she-roes, as Maya Angelou once said...who fought bravely to defend our nation and our way of life.

Sadly, the signing of the armistice in 1918 did not end all wars.

Today, at least 22 million Americans among us have served. Two million of them, the newest veterans, fought in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade.

The number of young vets returning injured and in need of care and counseling is growing. A new study found more than 40 percent of ALL veterans who need a caregiver are between the ages of 18 to 54.

The writer Eve Merriam wrote, "I dream of giving birth to child who will ask, 'Mother what was war?'"

A more immediate goal is for the nation to provide all the resources and care our veterans deserve...and not at the eleventh hour.

That's a page from my notebook.

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