Veterans: America’s Freedoms, Opportunities Are Worth the Sacrifice
Photo by Eric Ayres Trending
WHEELING - Service men and women were joined by generations of patriots on Wednesday when American Legion Post No. 1 in Wheeling hosted its annual Veterans Day Service.
Veterans of all branches of the military and many who have fought in different overseas conflicts over the past several decades came together for the annual holiday to honor all who have served.
Among those on hand were members of Post No. 1 and the Auxiliary, friends and family members, area dignitaries and one of the Wheeling area’s most recognizable and celebrated veterans - U.S. Navy Lt. Joseph Gompers, 102-year-old veteran of World War II.
Post Commander Tom Abell noted that military service personnel are like brothers and sisters. Members of different branches often banter back and forth or poke fun at one another, but when it comes down to brass tacks, service members always have each other’s backs.
"All service members will stick up for one another," Abell said. "All services work together to accomplish a mission."
While Memorial Day remembers those who gave their lives, the special military holiday in November remembers all who have served, Abell noted.
"On this day - Veterans Day - we are commemorating the service of veterans of all wars," he said. "We recognize that service to our country and her cause does not end with termination of military service. We continue our endeavors on behalf of an honorable world peace with a feeling of profound gratitude to God and to the men and women who gave their lives as part of the cost of this noblest of causes."
The featured guest speaker for the service was U.S. Army veteran Tiffany Stephen. Currently a special education teacher at Wheeling Middle School, Stephen was named West Virginia Teacher of the Year for her work in the local school system. She served 13 years as a Combat Military Police officer in the Army, completing two combat deployments in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Stephen said her military career began one day after her 18th birthday. She was fulfilling a dream of serving her country, and with war raging in Iraq, she quickly learned first-hand the realities of being a U.S. soldier.
At age 18 while preparing for her first deployment overseas, she had to complete a living will, identify life insurance beneficiaries and make sure that all her personal belongings and affairs were in order before heading out. She was basically preparing for the possibility of not returning home.
"At that moment I realized - I’m going to combat. For real. Not basic training. Not simulated exercises. Boots on the ground, in the desert in enemy territory," she said.
Anxiety gripped her, she said, but that feeling soon turned to excitement as her first tour of duty in Iraq unfolded in 2007-08.
"This was it," she said. "This was my opportunity to stand and to fight. And I was going to be fighting to preserve the American way of life that brave men and women before me didn’t hesitate to die for. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes a veteran."
Through the eyes of the men and women of the armed forces, a person’s race, religion, political identity, economic status and personal beliefs do not matter, Stephen noted.
"Because at the end of the day, there’s only one thing that matters, and it’s that we’re all Americans," she said. "We are all one team, and every single member of that team has a role to play."
Stephen said those who bravely serve their country will die for fellow U.S. citizens they will never know, and they do not just fight for the people with which they agree. She said they fight for citizens’ right to enjoy the comforts of life and opportunities in America that most people take for granted - and that others around the world do not get to realize or even fully understand.
Sacrifices of those in military service are made in order to allow others to live without ever having to know the pains of war, Stephen said.
"It means that they will bear the burdens of war so you can feel the joy of freedom," she said. "Honor your veterans. Safeguard the American dream."
During Stephen’s second second deployment, she participated in 150 combat missions.
"I loved my time in the Army, but eventually, I had to choose my family when faced with another deployment," she said. "I didn’t want my three kids left without a mother."
Before returning home to her family, Stephen and fellow soldiers came back to the United States and received a warriors’ welcome and a hot, home-cooked meal hosted by a group of Vietnam veterans, she said. When those veterans returned home from their service in Vietnam, they said they were spat on and called names.
"They made sure the next generation of soldiers were not going to experience the same thing," she said. "That’s brotherhood, and that’s what I’m talking about."
Stephen asked all Vietnam veterans on hand during Wednesday’s service to stand and be recognized. More than a dozen men stood to an ovation of applause and a warm "welcome home."
Veterans stand up for one another and for their fellow Americans, Stephen noted. Even in such a deeply divided country, people in the military are willing to give up their lives and fight for the freedoms of every American, and they believe that this cause is worth fighting for, Stephen said.
"We owe it to them to never forget that," she said, making note of friends and fellow soldiers she served alongside in Iraq who gave their lives and never came home.
Each year, Stephen runs the Ogden Newspaper Half Marathon Classic proudly carrying an American flag and military backpack adorned with the names of fallen comrades who were either killed in action or who were victims of post-traumatic stress disorder after returning home.
She said they are among so many that have made sacrifices no American should ever forget.
"That’s why I believe so strongly that we have a responsibility to appreciate this life that we have," Stephen said. "Because people like them paid a price that most of us will never be asked to pay."
In closing, she encouraged everyone to ask a veteran about their time in uniform and their service.
"Have them tell you a story. I promise it will put things into perspective," she said. "I think that’s important, especially today. We spend so much time arguing about things, and in the grand scheme of life, it doesn’t mean nearly as much as we think it does.
"We have this incredible country. It’s not perfect - it never has been. But it’s a country that people have fought for, died for and continue to risk everything to come home to."