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A Veteran's Day Message from Senator Kerry

By contributor,
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For all Americans, this is a day of special pride and remembering. For those of us who served, it is that and much more. Today we celebrate the nobility of young Americans willing to go thousands of miles from home to fight for the notion that in the final measurement someone else's freedom was connected to our own – whether recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, or on now distant battlefields in Vietnam, Korea, Europe and the Pacific, and elsewhere around the globe. We remember that spirit of service that bonded men and women together - making us more than we were when we left for duty – a spirit which didn't diminish once we had returned home.

We celebrate brave men and women who have given more of themselves than many will ever know – who have risked life and limb, lost friends in battle, and have seen things that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. We - as citizens protected by the greatest military in history - owe them all an incredible debt of gratitude, and we owe that debt also to the families they left behind and the families that were lucky enough to welcome them home and sustain them in all the days of their lives.

We have an obligation this Veterans Day – and every day – to continue to keep faith – in deeds not just words - with the Lord's words that "There is no greater love than sacrificing yourself for a friend." We know still the truth that every advance we've made on behalf of our Veterans has been the result of the commitment of Veterans to each other and their vows never to give up the fight; and we reaffirm our responsibility to keep faith with the generation of veterans returning home today.

And so, it is in that spirit that we remember all who fought with our brothers and sisters -- for our families -- for our nation. God bless them all and God bless the United States of America. .

John

P.S. To see my Veterans Day video message, click here.