What is a veteran? The dictionary would define it as someone who has served in the military, but to me, it’s so much more. It’s the people who are out there at this very moment devoting themselves to their country and their freedom, performing long hours and gruesome tasks, and yet would still take the time out of their little free time to write their little girl a letter to let her know that he’s alright and that he loves her more than anything else in the world. It’s the ones who spend months and years of their lives as prisoners and hostages for foreign countries, and would not say a word to the enemy for the sake of their country and its citizen’s future. It’s the men that put on a brave face and the women that beat the female standards. It’s the ones who hold the United States of America up on their shoulders, some days staggering, some days strong. They’re our heroes.

According to the National World War II Museum, we lose over 500 World War II veterans daily.
Almost every three minutes that’s a story lost, a tale unheard, and a memory forgotten. Around 16 million soldiers served in this war, and only a little over 1 million are around today. These numbers are dropping quickly and soon, we won’t have anyone to tell their story, to give us goosebumps, and to inform us that no matter what you go through, there are better days ahead. There always are. This, to me, is why veterans are so important to our nation’s history and future, and why as an American citizen, they will always be held in the highest position in my heart.

I had the honor of meeting a Holocaust victim during my last year of middle school. He talked about the horrors of what he went through, how he stayed strong and defeated his external and internal enemies, and came out stronger than before. At the end of the heartbreaking tale he told us how he was found by American soldiers who took him in and helped him back to strength, changing his destiny forever. He spoke about how without this country and it’s brave people, he wouldn’t be around to tell his tale. He wouldn’t have a home, and he would have fallen under the hands of the enemy. He was alive because of our veterans. This, to me, was something that changed my life forever and something I think about every single day. They’re not really fighting only for our country. They’re fighting for their family at home and the family across the ocean that has so little to share; they’re fighting for the man next to him that has nothing to lose but the photograph of his mother in his back pocket. Veterans don’t just fight for us, they fight for everyone. Everyone has a mother they love, a family to go back to. They make everyone so proud. So when the survivor finished his speech with “God Bless America”, he wasn’t the only one to have tears rolling down his cheeks.