Happy Veterans Day and Thank YOU for Your Service
First and foremost, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined us for today’s Veterans Day event.
Your presence helped us honor the brave men and women who have served our country with courage and sacrifice.
We are so proud of our veterans and deeply grateful for what they and this great country stand for. It was a true privilege to come together as a community to celebrate and bring awareness to the American Freedom Museum, a wonderful reminder of the history and values we hold dear right here in our hometown.
To all who have served and continue to serve, Happy Veterans Day and thank you for your service. 
Now, earlier this year, two dates came and went, largely unnoticed by Americans and mostly uncovered in the media. But they are two of the most important dates in modern history, maybe all history.
We’re referring to May 8 and September 2. Victory in Europe Day and Victory Over Japan Day.
They’re not given much attention anymore, but once upon a time, some of the biggest celebrations our country has ever seen took place on those two days. The news that World War II was finally over sparked an unparalleled wave of joy and gratitude around the world. Now, in 2025, we believe it’s more important than ever that we remember those days, and that war, and the men and women who served in it.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. A war that saw America’s greatest generation storm beaches in Algeria, Sicily, and Normandy. Swelter and suffer in steamy tropical islands like Guadalcanal, Peleliu, and Okinawa. Risk their lives behind enemy lines in China and India. Even defend U.S. soil in Hawaii, Oregon, and Alaska.
A war that saw 16.4 million Americans serve in one way or another.
Today, eighty years later, there are fewer and fewer people still alive who celebrated those special days. In fact, the National World War II Museum estimates that less than one percent of those 16 million veterans are still with us.1 Less than one percent left to tell their stories. To keep a living record of what they saw, what they accomplished…and why it mattered.
This month is home to another important date. November 11. Veterans Day.
Of course, Veterans Day is for commemorating all those who have served, not just those in World War II. But given that this year marks the 80th anniversary of that conflict and given how few of those veterans we still have left, I think they deserve special attention this year. Whether it’s visiting the grave of someone who has departed, or volunteering at the local VA hospital, or even just cracking open a book to learn more about their service and sacrifice, this is a chance for us to make their past an ever-present part of our future. To truly understand and give thanks for the world we are so fortunate to live in. A world we simply would not have without them.
The veterans of World War II liberated towns from tyranny and rescued survivors from concentration camps. They paved the way to greater equality for all Americans. And the effort it took to support them turbocharged our economy in ways never seen before or since. Ways that we are still benefiting from today.
As Father J.P. Lardie, a military chaplain who served in World War II once put it:
One day, when the history of the 20th Century is finally written, it will be recorded that when human society stood at the crossroads and civilization itself was under siege, [they] were there to fill the breach and help give humanity the victory. And all those who had a part in it will have left to posterity a legacy of honour, of courage, and of valour that time can never despoil.”2
We are so grateful for our veterans. We feel so moved whenever we have the chance to work with them. And we feel so humbled to be lucky enough to share the title of “American” with them. We know you are, too.
For those veterans who served during one of humanity’s darkest hours, we are especially grateful this year.
General Douglas MacArthur, who commanded U.S. forces in the Pacific, famously said during his farewell address to Congress, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” But most of those who fought with him have died.
Now, it’s our job to ensure that they and everything they stood for never, ever fades away.
On behalf of our team again, we wish you a safe and peaceful Veterans Day.
1 “Latest VA Projection Reveals Rate of WWII’s Fade from Living Memory,” The National WWII Museum, January 21, 2025. https://www.nationalww2museum.
2 “Father John Pilip Lardie, the Chaplain on the Motorcycle,” Bomber Command Museum Archives, https://www.
