Veterans Day

Veterans Day is a very important part of the year. It is a time to honor our veterans that have served through our many wars and kept us safe. Even though there may be some differences, whether you commemorate Veterans day, Remembrance day, Remembrance  Sunday or Anzac day the main reason is to celebrate the veterans that have fought for our countries. One of the main reasons Veterans day was chosen to be on November 11th was because the signing of armistice which ended World War I.

There are more than 20.4 million veterans in the United States, and about 866,000 veterans in Ohio. As of 2015 there were 57,830 citizens accounted for in Pickaway county, 3,932 of them veterans. Of those veterans, 3,740 are male and 192 of them female.

Many of the county’s veterans fought in many national wars. Including World War II  which began on September 1, 1939 and lasted until September 2, 1945, 157 veterans from Pickaway county fought in that war. The Korean war started June 25, of 1950 and ended July 27, 1953 in that war 13.5% fought otherwise known as 447 veterans. Now the Vietnam war was established on November 1, of 1955 and ended on April 30, 1975. Of that war 44.1% of the county’s veterans fought, also figured up as 1,462 men and women. Now the First Gulf war began August 2, 1990 and lasted until February 28, 1991 709 veterans of Pickaway county fought in this war. Lastly, the Second Gulf war was started on Thursday, March 20, of 2003 and ended December 18, of 2011, of that war 16.3% of the Pickaway county veterans fought, also figured as 542 veterans.

Our veterans schooling was very diverse ranging from high school to a bachelor’s degree. Veterans in our county graduated from college and went straight to the military. It may surprise you how many veterans have a bachelor’s degree or higher, about 11.4% of our veterans fall into that category. While about 43.2% graduate from high school, went straight to the military and never looked back. While 35% had very little college experience ,10.3% didn’t even finish high school. Many of our veterans had little schooling through college at all but even so they went through and fought our battles for us, skilled and passionate, fighting for their country without regret.

As of 2014 there were 21.8 veterans in the United States of America. To put that into context there are 319.2 citizens in America therefore coming to about 14% of our population is veterans. One of them being my Papaw. My Papaw was a Vietnam veteran and he is proud to be! Many others are veterans as well and I’m sure as anything every veteran is proud to fight for their country.

In the end veterans help us so much that words can’t even explain. The students at McDowell Middle school say a big THANK YOU to all the veterans in the United States. Everyone say a thank you to your veterans, not just today but everyday. They fight for our lives everyday and they deserve respect and honor. Many of our veterans have children, grandchildren or even great grandchildren along with husbands, wives and a family. Even so they go out and fight, leaving their loved ones behind to serve the country they are proud to represent. So today let’s give our veterans a special thank you for all that they do.

This image was on Pixabay