They have forgotten. Veterans today have a special obligation. Veterans are the keepers of the flame, the bearers of our national memory. Veterans know better than any other Americans that the ideals of democracy and freedom will always be linked to the selfless service of our armed forces. Veterans understand this.
Veterans know the high cost of establishing and maintaining democracy.
Throughout our nation's history, the price of democracy has been their selfless service. That was not to be the case, as we learned many times throughout this tragic century. The origin of this day goes back to the years following World War One. The bloodiest conflict in human history up to that time concluded with pen strokes on a document, an Armistice signed in a railway coach near the battle zone in France. Of the American Expeditionary Forces who stepped off troop ships in Europe in 1917, one hundred thousand died.