On Veterans Day and Year Round, Thank You to America’s Veterans (Rep. Zach Wamp)

As I finished my morning run here in Washington today, I came down off the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and began to hear in the distance names being called, one at a time over a loud speaker. As I got closer and closer to the Vietnam Memorial, I saw a small group gathered there. One man with a microphone was reading one name at a time — every single name off of the Vietnam Memorial Wall, remembering that every single life was a huge sacrifice for all of us and our entire nation for the principles we hold dear: freedom and liberty. That begins the Veterans Day weekend.

This small group that gathered there were not the war protesters; they were a few blocks away and they are also entitled under our rights and privileges guaranteed under our Constitution and Bill of Rights to say whatever they would say. But the small group at the Vietnam Memorial was a group of patriots who understand that freedom is not free. It comes with a huge sacrifice that these veterans, these heroes, these brave souls knew about and were willing to put their life on the line between the threat and our civilian population for the rest of us.

That’s what Veterans Day is all about. It meant a lot to me to hear those names being called, it means a lot to me to know that all the Vietnam veterans, the World War II veterans, the Korean War veterans, the Desert Storm veterans, and those that are coming home today from Iraq and Afghanistan have served our country with such valor.

We’re all grateful and this weekend, Veterans Day weekend, we all pause as we should every day, and thank every single man and woman who has stood in uniform and extended freedom from our generation to the next or to our generation from the last. Thank you.