Today is the day that we have designated to honor you, our veterans.  No matter when or where you served, whether you were a Finance Technician, Radar Operator, Infantryman, Aircraft Specialist, Tank Officer, or anything and everything in between, we appreciate you for serving our country and everything you have done for us.  You gave up your freedoms and comforts to ensure ours, and we owe you everything because of it.  We owe you respect, recognition, and our thanks.

I thank you, as a girl who can attend school every day, when girls in other countries are shot at simply for wanting an education.

We thank you, as citizens that work in the safety of an office building, school, or factory, when you worked in military bases and bullet-ridden battlefields.

We thank you, as a nation that lives safe and free, pursuing happiness, while people in other nations cannot voice their opinions, practice their own religions, or even have access to outside information.

Along with gratitude, we owe you our apologies.

I apologize, as a girl who complains about homework, my job, or waiting in line to buy groceries or clothes, when you strived every day to provide me with the opportunities to receive an education, to get a job, other than housework and raising a family, to earn money, and to be able to buy whatever I want or need with it.

We apologize, as citizens who take for granted everything we have ever had, including our families, when you lived without luxuries, sometimes weren’t sure if you would wake up with all of your limbs, or even your life, and missed birthdays, soccer games, births, first words, and Christmases with your families.

We apologize, as a nation that has set aside only one day for you and may forget of your service any other, when you have worked strenuously to set aside every day of every single one of our lives to make sure we are free and secure.

In the end, whether you served for a summer or for twenty years, whether you carried a calculator, a mop, a tool-belt, or a gun, whether you are twenty or ninety-six, male or female, we admire, applaud, and appreciate your loyalty, dedication, bravery, and service.  Although we write these speeches and poems, there are few words that could even begin to describe the incredible deeds you have done for this country and these people.  With a lack of ability to repay you for your sacrifices, we thank you.