Veterans Day honors the men and women who serve or have served in the military. It's also called Armistice Day in Europe and commemorates the end of World War I.
Jeffery Emmert is a retired Army staff sergeant. His father served in WWI and Korea.
Emmert remembers his dad on Veterans Day.
"He’s been gone now for four and half years," he says. "I learned a lot from my Dad."
Emmert is proud that he was in the military too.
"I wouldn’t change anything about being in the service if I had to do it over again," he says. "I would do the same thing. It’s a good thing to have behind me.”
Steve Lower is a retired Air Force officer. His father served in World War II.
Lower says for him Veterans Day is a time of remembrance.
"I know we have Memorial Day, which is to recognize our deceased," he says. "Veterans Day is akin to that. It’s just to remember all the veterans that served and had to take time away from their families and communities."
David Adams is an Army veteran who fought in Iraq.
“It makes me proud to be a veteran," Adams says. "It makes me proud that I could serve my country and then my country can one day a year recognize us as veterans. And recognize me as a veteran for what I have done."
Arlene Bercier is an Army and Air Force veteran. She says Veteran’s Day is bittersweet for her.
"I have a sense of pride being that I am a veteran and a proud member of a group that represents what our country stands for," she says. "
Bercier says the day also makes her recall fellow soldiers and family that died in action.
"There are a lot of things that military families go through that...are like open wounds that are not a missing leg or shrapnel scars that can be seen," she says. "But they’re hidden wounds of emotions," she says.
Editor's Note: The veterans in this story were interviewed at the Warrior Resource Center in Montrose. It's part of Welcome Home Montrose, a community-based nonprofit that offers services to veterans and their families.
