Saying ‘Thank You’ on Veterans Day

Since 1919, Americans have paused on Nov. 11 to honor those who have served or are serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Students, faculty, staff and administrators did the same during an early morning Veterans Day ceremony on campus and were urged to remember veterans of war and those serving in the military.

“We say thank you when a store clerk hands us change. We wave thank you when a motorist yields us the right of way. We thank our friends when they pay us compliments,” said Lt. Col. Andy Kilgore, chairman of the Department of Military Science at Appalachian State University.

“We probably use those words thank you about a dozen times a day. But how do you say thank you to somebody who has saved the world? When you ask young men and women to endure great hardship and drastically change their life-styles and possibly give their lives for you, the words thank you seem woefully insignificant. Simply put, we owe them a debt that can never be repaid.”

Also attending the ceremony were Army Reserve Col. Gill Beck, chief judge of the U.S. Army Legal Services Agency, and Army Reserve Col. David Clarkson, operations officer, 81st Regional Readiness Command.

Beck and Clarkson are graduates of Appalachian. They have been nominated for promotion to brigadier general by President George W. Bush.