Honor the debt we owe veterans

For 98 years, Nov. 11 has been a day to remember with genuine gratitude those who answered the call of duty to serve our country.

On the morning of the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” in 1918, World War I ended. To commemorate, President Woodrow Wilson, on Nov. 11, 1919, issued an order designating the day as Armistice Day.

In 1938, Armistice Day was made a national holiday. Then, it was given greater significance on May 26, 1954 when President Dwight Eisenhower, a man who had served heroically in the European theater during World War II, signed a congressional resolution that changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day.

Many of the men and women who server bear scars, visible upon their bodies and invisible upon their minds, of hardships they endured. Yet most seldom, if ever, mention that hardship. With that behind them, they have assumed a normal life us as our neighbors and friends.

On Veterans Day, Old Glory will waft along our streets as a reminder of our debt to those who kept our nation safe so it can remain “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Honor the debt we owe veterans."