NACC held its annual Veterans Day event on campus last Thursday. A great friend of the college, Major General Bill Nance, was this year's guest of honor. Major General Nance is a member of the NACC Advisory Board and currently serves as Chairman of the Jackson County Commission. 

A crowd composed of NACC faculty and staff members, students, and community members were in the audience to here these remarks from Major General Nance:

"Thank you Northeast Alabama Community College for the opportunity to participate in this observance of Veteran’s day and for the opportunity to thank our veterans for their service to our nation and to our people.

I want to take a moment and congratulate Dr. Campbell, the professors, administrators, and staff for the great work and progress here over the last couple of years.  

For Northeast being designated Alabama’s Best Community College and one of the top community colleges in America, for the continuous growth in facilities, infrastructure and academic curriculum, for partnering with our region’s city and county school systems to offer students the opportunity to earn college credits, for supporting our region’s focus on workforce development, for the addition of sports programs and for making Northeast Alabama Community College a great college experience for the Northeast students.  Congratulations.

Thank you to each of you for being here today. Today’s observance is to recognize the dedication and sacrifice of the men and women who put on a military uniform to defend our nation.  So, most importantly, thank you to our veterans that are here today. They served as Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Space Force Guardians.  We are here to honor and thank all veterans who served in times of war and peace.  Veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, in Afghanistan and Iraq and in other operations. 

Their legacy began with a choice. They raised their right hand and took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. At that moment, they accepted responsibilities that reshaped their lives. They committed to placing duty above self-interests and national security above individual plans. 

These sacrifices extended beyond the individual service member to their military families who dealt with frequent moves and long separations. They took care of the homes, raised the children, and dealt with the uncertainty that comes with military life.  So today we want to also say Thank You to our Military Families!!

Next year we will celebrate our Nation’s 250^th birthday.  Throughout our Nation’s history, our veterans’ sacrifices have made possible the freedoms we have today.  Each veteran here, and those in our communities, around our state and across our Nation have taken their place in a long line of service to our Nation.

Veterans’ service stretch from our Nation’s founding to today.  Throughout our nation’s history, America’s men and women have responded when needed to serve our country as members of our Military Services.  Veterans fought for our Nation’s independence, helped build, and expand our Nation, fought through world wars, and today they continue to serve to protect and defend our Nation, our Constitution, and our people.

When President Dwight Eisenhower signed the bill in 1954 that changed Armistice Day to Veteran’s Day, he “urged Americans to remember the courageous sacrifices of all who served in the Armed Forces to preserve Liberty.”

While Memorial Day honors those who’ve given their lives in service to our Nation, Veterans Day is for all who have served. 

It’s a day for appreciation, a Day we take time to recognize and thank veterans of every Generation, and a day to honor and reflect on their sacrifice to protect and defend our Nation and to preserve the rights and freedoms each of us enjoy. 

Next Week a wreath will be laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on behalf of all Americans.  Americans will observe Veteran’s Day to honor the service of the men and women who served our Nation.

This veterans’ Day many people will pay their respects to them by visiting sites across our Nation and some overseas.

Some will visit Normandy’s D-Day Beaches and other sites like Pointe du Hoc and get an understanding of the brutal conditions the men of the Allied powers – American, British, and Canadian – were faced with and had to overcome to begin the liberation of France and western Europe.

“General George Patton said of those who fell there: “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.  Rather we should thank God that such men lived”

Some will visit The USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor and see the wall of names of those who served there and those who lost their lives there.

             -  There were 1511 crew members aboard the USS Arizona on the morning of 7 December, 1941

             -  1,177 sailors and marines lost their lives in that morning’s attacks

             -  1,102 remain entombed in the Arizona.

Others will visit the Punch Bowl, the National Military Cemetery of the Pacific across the Island from Pearl Harbor. They will walk among grave markers and see many that read “Pearl Harbor - Unknown – 7 December 1941”.

A plaque at the National Military Cemetery of the Pacific, presented by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, reads in part “This plaque is in solemn commemoration of all these men and women – an expression of our tribute to their devotion to duty, to their courage and patriotism.  By their services on Land, on sea and in the air they have made us their debtors – for the flag of our Nation still flies over a land of free people.”

Some will visit the World War II Memorial, a National memorial dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and served as civilians during World War II. 

Others will visit the Marine Corps War Memorial depicting the six Marines who raised the U. S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima.

All these visited sites are memorials built by the American people to recognize the service and sacrifices of those who served during World War II. 

In Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation” he writes about that generation “When the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Government turned to ordinary Americans and asked of them extraordinary service, sacrifice, and heroics.  Many Americans met these high expectations, and then returned home to lead ordinary lives. When the war ended, more than twelve million men and women put their uniforms aside and returned to civilian life.  They went back to work at their old jobs or started small businesses; they became big city cops and firemen; they finished their degrees or enrolled in college for the first time; they became schoolteachers, insurance salesmen, craftsmen, and local politicians…. They were proud of what they accomplished but they rarely discussed their experiences, even with each other.  They became once again ordinary people, the kind of men and women who always have been the foundation of the American way of life.”

I am the Son of a mother and father who both were veterans of World War II.  My mother was a member of the Women’s Army Corp and my father was a soldier who served in the Pacific throughout the war.  Though they talked very little about their experiences, they were very proud of their service.

Their generation was born after World War I, they grew up during the great depression and as young adults they were called to serve in World War II. 

Approximately 16 million Americans, men and women, served in World War II.

According to the Veterans Administration, of the 16 million who served in World War II, approximately 66,000 are still living.  Today we honor them for their service and sacrifice.  Each a member of “The Greatest Generation” – and as Tom Brokaw referred to them, “the Generation that saved the World”.

Sons and daughters of the “Greatest Generation” were also called to serve. Approximately 2.7 million served in Vietnam.  By recent estimates, there are fewer than 850,000 Vietnam Veterans still living in the United States. 

This Veterans’ Day people will visit the Vietnam Memorial.  Some of those visiting will be looking for the names of family members or friends listed among the more than 58,300 names on the wall – their average age was 22.

As we celebrate this year’s Veterans Day the Veteran’s Administration estimates there are approximately 15.8 million military veterans having served from World War II through today living in the U.S. and approximately 377,000 living in Alabama.

They are veterans that served in all manner of military duties.  Each dedicated a portion of their life to serve our Nation when our Nation called them to serve. These veterans bring remarkable strengths to our communities.

I believe Tom Brokaw’s thoughts about those who returned from WWII applies to every generation of America’s veterans, and it certainly applies to Veterans we honor today.  Veterans that live in our communities and our home towns.  They too returned home to lead ordinary lives, to raise families, to go back to work, to become members of their communities and become cops and firemen, to become farmers, doctors, nurses, teachers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, small business owners, scientist, engineers, and to do other critically important jobs in our communities. 

AND they too are members of “the kind of men and women who always have been the foundation of the American way of life”.

Our communities benefit from veterans’ commitment to service. Many continue serving by volunteering, mentoring young people, or taking on civic responsibilities. They bring the same dedication to those roles that they did in their military service.

We benefit every day from the contributions of veterans, often without realizing it. The security we enjoy and the rights and opportunities we have exist because veterans stepped forward to protect them. Their service reminds us that citizenship carries responsibilities as well as rights.

We here today are blessed to live in this beautiful and wonderful place we call home.  There is a great goodness here.  

Generations of young men and women from here have served when our Nation needed their service.  Here patriotism is a way of life, here veteran’s service is honored and respected, here we believe in honoring our Nation.  When our National Anthem is played we stand with our hand over our hearts to honor those who have served, to honor those who have fallen and to show our respect for our Great Nation.

We are blessed to live in a Nation whose people will never forget the courage and sacrifice of those who have served and we will always pay tribute to and honor them.  Because of their service, they have given us life in a great and free country.

In closing, I believe the greatest thanks we can give to our Veterans to show our respect and support of them, is by loving our Country that so many of them served to protect and defend, by serving when we have the opportunity to keep our communities strong, by cherishing our freedoms and rights that veterans served to preserve and by protecting those freedoms and rights to help preserve them for future generations to come. 

Again, thank you to each of you for being here today.  Thank you for taking the time to remember, and to thank and honor our Veterans. 

God Bless you, God Bless those we honor today, and God Bless America.  Thank You."