Honor our veterans 365 days a year

Their sacrifice has preserved the constitutional rights and the democracy that remains our clarion call.

Honoring veterans is a proud tradition in this region.

Monday, in Delaware County, Media held its annual Veterans Day Parade for the 59th year.

In Norristown, Montgomery County officials unveiled a Hometown Heroes banner remembering Marine Capt. Samuel Schultz, the Abington native killed earlier this year in a training exercise helicopter crash in southern California.

And, in Chester County, the Coatesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center was the focus of a number of tributes and thank you’s to residents.

Among those honored in the region on the official celebration of Veterans Day was Eugene Vickers of Newtown. Vickers turned 103 on Sunday, Nov. 11.

On Monday, he climbed into a car with three other World War II veterans and marked a crucial moment in history.

The 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of the year.

This year that historic date – commemorating the moment when the Armistice was signed ending World War I – took on special meaning, marking 100 years since the curtain came down on “The War to End All Wars.”

One hundred years later, after another world conflict to save the world from the Axis powers, a battle in Korea, the Vietnam conflict, and wars in the Gulf, the world remains a very dangerous place.

It demands men and women who are willing to answer the call, both in times of war and peace.

Men like Eugene Vickers, who turned all of 3 years old on the same day the World War I Armistice was signed.

Service runs in the Vickers’ family. His grandfather Eugene was an Army veteran in the Civil War. His big brother Louis was an Army colonel and career military man.

Vickers attended Haverford High School and Wheaton College in Illinois. He and his bride, Betty, were living in Buffalo, N.Y., when the attack on Pearl Harbor plunged a seemingly reluctant U.S. into World War II.

He served in the Pacific Theater from 1942 to 1946. He participated in the battles of Okinawa, Iwo Jima and Ie Shima.

A man of deep faith – he served as his ship’s chaplain during the war – Vickers takes a pragmatic view of his military service.

“Serving our country was something you had to do, and you just went and did it, that’s all,” he said.

It’s a philosophy that no doubt would resonate with Ray Stankus. Decades after Vickers served, Stankus answered his nation’s call. He describes it as something you were supposed to do as a citizen.

Stankus served in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, part of the first major U.S. Army ground formation deployed in Vietnam. He was deployed from 1965-1971. He saw nearly 1,800 of his fellow soldiers fall on the battlefield.

Stankus and Vickers represent across different generations the selfless sacrifice of the soldier who puts his life on the line to defend our way of life.

It was just last week that we learned of the death of Brent Taylor, killed in action in Afghanistan. Taylor was mayor of his hometown in Utah. He leaves behind seven children and a town with a new appreciation of Veterans Day.

It has always struck us as entirely appropriate that Veterans Day each year follows on the heels of Election Day.

It is those soldiers’ sacrifice that has preserved the constitutional right we exercise and the democracy that remains our clarion call.

The challenge is not how we treat veterans today, but the way we treat them the other 364 days of the year.

Too many veterans bring the torment of the battlefield home with them, and their care does not always match the service they gave their country. They deal with issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and homelessness at rates greater than the general population.

Their efforts to get help too often wind up bogged down in a Veterans Administration bureaucracy that seems illequipped to serve their needs.

Want to really honor men like Vickers and Stankus, along with the legacy of service they represent? Do more than salute them or honor them with a parade.

Make sure veterans are a priority, not just on Veterans Day, but every day.