On this day, in ceremonies across our Nation and around the world, Americans gather to pay tribute to our veterans. In community centers and church halls, at VFW posts and U.S. embassies, in quiet cemeteries and on battlefields fallen silent, we pause to honor the brave men and women of our Armed Forces whose devotion to duty and willingness to serve have sustained our country for more than two centuries.
Over the course of our history, some 41 million Americans have served—and more than a million have died—so that we might live in freedom. We are the beneficiaries of their courage, their sacrifice, and their vigilance; and so are countless freedom-loving people around the world.
In the past century alone, through two world wars and the long, tense struggle of the Cold War; on the front lines in Korea, Vietnam, Beirut, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, the Persian Gulf, and the Balkans, our brave men and women in uniform have risked their lives to protect U.S. interests, assist our allies, promote peace, and advance our ideals. Thanks to their extraordinary record of service, more people now live under democratic rule than at any other time in history. And today, America is a stronger Nation in a more secure world because of our veterans.
On this day, in ceremonies across our Nation and around the world, Americans gather to pay tribute to our veterans. In community centers and church halls, at VFW posts and U.S. embassies, in quiet cemeteries and on battlefields fallen silent, we pause to honor the brave men and women of our Armed Forces whose devotion to duty and willingness to serve have sustained our country for more than two centuries.
Over the course of our history, some 41 million Americans have served—and more than a million have died—so that we might live in freedom. We are the beneficiaries of their courage, their sacrifice, and their vigilance; and so are countless freedom-loving people around the world.
In the past century alone, through two world wars and the long, tense struggle of the Cold War; on the front lines in Korea, Vietnam, Beirut, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, the Persian Gulf, and the Balkans, our brave men and women in uniform have risked their lives to protect U.S. interests, assist our allies, promote peace, and advance our ideals. Thanks to their extraordinary record of service, more people now live under democratic rule than at any other time in history. And today, America is a stronger Nation in a more secure world because of our veterans.