Veterans Day 2014

Daily News Article   —   Posted on November 11, 2014

Veterans Day is observed on November 11, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls. (However, if November 11 falls on a Sunday, Veteran’s Day is observed on the following Monday.) The purpose of Veterans Day is to to honor America’s veterans for their service and sacrifice.

In his 2010 Veterans Day speech, Marine Lieutenant General John F. Kelly said:

Those with less of a sense of service to the nation never understand it when men and women of character step forward to look danger and adversity straight in the eye, refusing to blink, or give ground, even to their own deaths. The protected can’t begin to understand the price paid so they and their families can sleep safe and free at night. No, they are not victims, but are warriors, your warriors, and warriors are never victims, regardless of how and where they fall. Death, or fear of death, has no power over them. Their paths are paved by sacrifice, sacrifices they gladly make for you.

Like those who went before them in uniform, we owe them everything. We owe them our safety. We owe them our prosperity. We owe them our freedom. We owe them our lives. Any one of them could have done something more self-serving with their lives as the vast majority of their age group elected to do after high school and college, but no, they chose to serve knowing full well a brutal war was in their future. They did not avoid the basic and cherished responsibility of a citizen—the defense of country—they welcomed it. They are the very best this country produces, and have put every one of us ahead of themselves. All are heroes for simply stepping forward, and we as a people owe a debt we can never fully pay.

In his speech, Lt. Gen. Kelly tells the story of the bravery of two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter in Ramadi, Iraq.  Read the speech at:  whatsoproudlywehail.org/curriculum/the-american-calendar/veterans-day-speech-to-the-semper-fi-society-of-st-louis