Students honor, and learn from, veterans

"We're here to remember and y'all have done a wonderful job so far," Dennis Cherry, retired U.S. Air Force colonel, said.

"The men and women that are here today represent all those who have served this great country throughout history. Family members, neighbors, fellow citizens, it's very fitting that we take this time to honor our veterans. We're very grateful. It's important to remember."

Speaking to a crowd of veterans, family members and high school students, Cherry reminded all present that part of remembering is that we "not forget."

"We study the past. We need to understand the past. It helps us to be grateful when we remember the sacrifices of others. A grateful heart is they key to a rich and fulfilling life.

"Get in touch with what is in your heart when you listen to the National Anthem and the service anthems that were played today," he said.

It is wise, he counseled, that we study our mistakes so we will not be manipulated or deceived to commit the same mistakes.

"The last people who want to go to war are the soldiers," he said.

Cherry said it's one thing to hear the stories of war, but it's another to hear it first hand.

"Take time to ask a veteran about duty, about honor, about country," he advised the young men and women listening.

World War I was the war to end all wars, or so people thought, Cherry said because they wanted to believe that.

"We let down our defenses. We let down our readiness ... this gave way to fascists dictators and when war was coming again, we found ourselves unprepared, undermanned, untrained," he said. "Into that gap stepped many of our friends, family members, neighbors -- part of the largest and most powerful military force the world has ever known. They rose to the occasion. Many of them are still with us."

He said America must remain a nation of free people by not going to war, to be strong enough to stop aggressiveness.

"It is our constitution that gives us the right to make choices.

"Today we have the right and the ability to choose, to debate, to dissent, to vote," he said lamenting that of the 226 million Americans eligible to cast a vote, "100 million of our fellow Americans decided not to exercise their freedom that some citizens of some countries have never known."

"Honor all veterans -- past, present and future -- by appreciating and exercising the right and responsibility to vote."

Quoting Abraham Lincoln, Cherry concluded the need for our country to have "malice toward none, charity toward all, firmness in the right as God gives us the right."

"Lasting peace can be a reality only because of the sacrifices of the veterans and their families," he said.

Community on 11/23/2016