Veterans deserve our thanks for job well done

To the editor:

This Veterans Day we honor the long line of men and women who have served in our nation's armed forces. More than half of the 48 million Americans who have served since the Revolutionary War are with us today. They range from a few World War I veterans, all more than 100 years old, to recent high school graduates serving on military duty around the world in our nation's war on terrorism.

This is a proud line of service that is as strong as our belief in freedom and as enduring as our history as a free people. Thanks to our veterans, it is also an unbroken line. That is what Veterans Day is all about: thanking our veterans. Our nation endures because they endured. We remain free because they gave up their freedom when duty called.

We in the Department of Veterans Affairs enjoy what I believe is the noblest mission in government: serving and caring for our veterans. Public interest and public support make that possible. Each citizen can do his or her part on Veterans Day. Show veterans you care. Fly the flag. Attend a Veterans Day ceremony. Honor the veterans where you work. Go to school or worship. And, maybe most important of all, just say thank you for our nation and our liberty.

NANCY ARNOLD

Director

John J. Pershing VA Medical Center

Poplar Bluff, Mo.