The Northfield VFW and the Northfield Legion took out this full page ad in this weekend’s edition of the Northfield News for tomorrow’s Memorial Day celebration at Veteran’s Memorial Park. I plan to be there taking photos tomorrow.

I found their list of wars for the “placing of the wreaths” ceremony to be a bit odd.

From the Revolutionary War through the Persian Gulf War, no problem, though some vets of the Cold War have been lobbying to have that included. But the last two wars listed are labeled:

• War on Terrorism
• Operation Enduring Freedom

The Wikipedia defines Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) as the government’s official name for all post-9/11 action, though they indicate that OEF most commonly means the war in Afghanistan. This Dept of Defense web page equates ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ with the ‘war against terrorism.’

So are the VFW and Legion trying to communicate something with this wording strategy or is it a typo? And why not use the commonly-used ‘Iraq War’ or the ‘War in Iraq’ or just ‘Iraq’ like it’s listed on the ‘Major Wars and Conflicts’ granite marker at the site (right photo)?