Dear Editor,

As Nov. 11 approaches, I’d like to remind your readers of the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is to remember all those that gave the ultimate sacrifice and never came home from war. Veterans Day is to honor those that sacrificed and did come home, to try and go on with their lives—sometimes with physical injuries, sometimes with mental injuries, and sometimes to a nation that wasn’t very welcoming.

We need to remember the heroes living among us. The old man down the street who stormed the beaches on D-Day. The deacon at church who was a prisoner of war in North Korea. The Vietnam veteran at work, who still lives with the horrors of war every day. And the cashier at the local grocery store who left her children for a year to serve in Iraq.

These are the heroes that left their families and homes to answer our county’s call. They are the reason we all enjoy the freedoms we have today.

As a nation and people, we owe them more than we can ever repay. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the Heroes living among us; let’s remember them this Veterans Day.

–Bonny VanVechten