Veterans Day 2024

“Today, we honor generations of America’s veterans — patriots who have stood on the frontlines of freedom and kept the light of liberty shining bright around the world.  Just as they have kept the ultimate faith in our Nation, we must keep ultimate faith in them.

Each one of our Nation’s veterans is a link in a chain of honor that stretches back to our founding days — bound by a sacred oath to support and defend the United States of America.  Throughout history, whenever and wherever the forces of darkness have sought to extinguish the flame of freedom, America’s veterans have been fighting to keep it burning bright.  I remember so clearly the pride the First Lady and I felt in our son Beau during his service in Iraq.  He — like all our veterans from Belleau Wood, Baghdad, and Gettysburg to Guadalcanal, Korea, and Kandahar and beyond — lived, served, and sacrificed by a creed of duty.  We owe them a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay, not just for fighting for our democracy, but for giving back to our communities and inspiring the next generation to serve, even after they hang up their uniforms.

President Joe Biden, A Proclamation of Veterans Day, 2024

"I’ll have you know that a soldier is the most holy of all humans because he is the most tested — most tested of all."

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Today is a day that the world remembers and honors those who serve their countries.

Armistice Day. Remembrance Day. Veterans Day.

The world remembers and celebrates the end of what was supposed to be the war to end all wars.  The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Oh, were that true.

As Americans, we remember and honor those who serve and sacrifice for our country.  Who sacrifice for our freedoms as the wars rage ever on.

Thank you. We owe you more than we can say.  May we never forget.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

President John F. Kennedy

That is the key, isn’t it.  May we not just continue to repeat these words, may we live by them.  May we enact policies that truly show the value we place on our soldiers.  May our leadership thoroughly weigh the costs every time before engaging them.  May we repair the broken systems we have to ensure they are supported throughout their lives.

And then, may our words on Veterans Day be an everyday remembrance.

Veterans Day 2022

"I’ll have you know that a soldier is the most holy of all humans because he is the most tested — most tested of all."

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Today is a day that the world remembers and honors those who serve their countries.

Armistice Day. Remembrance Day. Veterans Day.

The world remembers and celebrates the end of what was supposed to be the war to end all wars.  The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Oh, were that true.

As Americans, we remember and honor those who serve and sacrifice for our country.  Who sacrifice for our freedoms as the wars rage ever on.

Thank you. We owe you more than we can say.  May we never forget.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

John F. Kennedy

Veterans Day 2021

"I’ll have you know that a soldier is the most holy of all humans because he is the most tested — most tested of all."

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Today is a day that the world remembers and honors those who serve their countries.

Armistice Day. Remembrance Day. Veterans Day.

The world remembers and celebrates the end of what was supposed to be the war to end all wars.  The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Oh, were that true.

As Americans, we remember and honor those who serve and sacrifice for our country.  Who sacrifice for our freedoms as the wars rage ever on.

Thank you. We owe you more than we can say.  May we never forget.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

President John F. Kennedy

Veterans Day 2020

"I’ll have you know that a soldier is the most holy of all humans because he is the most tested — most tested of all."

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

"You are the veterans of America, the most trusted among us, and the most tested of all Americans. Collectively, you represent generations of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and coastguardsmen who have served and sacrificed for all of us. You are not only the heart and soul, but you are the very spine of this nation. And as a nation, we pause today to thank more than 23 million surviving veterans who so bravely and faithfully protected our freedom. You gave and they gave, and you deserve our thanks.

We stand here today committed to show our respect, to honor and to recognize our responsibility to care for all our veterans, and for those who continue in harm’s way as I speak to you today."

then Vice-President Joe Biden, November 11, 2014, Arlington National Cemetery

Today is a day that the world remembers and honors those who serve their countries.

Armistice Day. Remembrance Day. Veterans Day.

The world remembers and celebrates the end of what was supposed to be the war to end all wars.  The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Oh, were that true.

As Americans, we remember and honor those who serve and sacrifice for our country.  Who sacrifice for our freedoms as the wars rage ever on.

Thank you. We owe you more than we can say.  May we never forget.

Veterans Day 2019

"Honor to the Soldier, and Sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country's cause. Honor also to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field, and serves, as he best can, the same cause -- honor to him, only less than to him, who braves, for the common good, the storms of heaven and the storms of battle."

Abraham Lincoln, December 2, 1863 letter to George Opdyke and others

Today is a day that the world remembers and honors those who serve their countries.

Armistice Day. Remembrance Day. Veterans Day.

The world remembers and celebrates the end of what was supposed to be the war to end all wars.  Oh, but were that true.

As Americans, we remember and honor those who serve and sacrifice for our country.  Who sacrifice for our freedoms as the wars rage ever on.

Thank you. We owe you more than we can say.  May we never forget.

Veterans' Day

Today is a day that the world remembers and honors those who serve their countries.

Armistice Day. Remembrance Day. Veterans Day.

As Americans, we remember and honor those who serve and sacrifice for our country.

Thank you. We owe you more than we can say.  May we never forget.

"Veterans Day often follows a hard-fought political campaign -- an exercise in the free speech and self-government that you fought for.  It often lays bare disagreements across our nation.  But the American instinct has never been to find isolation in opposite corners.  It is to find strength in our common creed, to forge unity from our great diversity, to sustain that strength and unity even when it is hard.  And when the election is over, as we search for ways to come together -- to reconnect with one another and with the principles that are more enduring than transitory politics -- some of our best examples are the men and women we salute on Veterans Day."

President Barack Obama