At South Windsor Veterans Day Ceremony, A Call to Do More

Veterans who had served, family members who had grieved and those grateful for their liberties looked for a place to be Tuesday morning – a place to say thank you – and found it at Veterans Memorial Park. 

The small crowd, including old and young veterans, Town Council members and South Windsor residents joined together for a ceremony to honor America’s servicemen and women. 

Mayor Tom Delnicki pointed to the recent election, noting that it was veterans who made it possible and who sustain the United States.

“Many countries in the world decide not by the ballot box protected by our veterans but by the point of a barrel who’s going to be elected... If it were not for our veterans, men and women who put their lives aside to serve our Constitution, to protect our liberties and our way of life, this would not be the United States of America. To them all we owe a great debt of gratitude and a thank you,” Delnicki said.

Col. Scott Pangarossa, of the Joint Forces Headquarters of the Connecticut Army National Guard, put into perspective who America’s veterans are today and the burden that they have shouldered in the War on Terror.

“In this time of persistent conflict they have endured tour after tour in distant and difficult places. Over 400,000 of our reserve component soldiers have served more than three tours overseas. They have protected us from danger and given others the opportunity for a better life…”

He quoted Winston Churchill, who said “Never have so many owed so much to so few.”

“Since 2001, the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, just over 2.5 million servicemen have served overseas in the global war on terrorism. While that number seems huge, it represents just 1 percent of our nation’s population,” Pangarossa said.

In contrast to WWI, which Pangarossa said cost 21 million lives over just 4 years, just 1 percent of the population has served in the 12 years of the United States’ longest and costliest war.

“There is no tribute, commemoration, no praise that can truly match the magnitude of such service and sacrifice. We can but offer them this humble moment of silence,” he said.

Pangarossa also urged the crowd to do what they could to help the country’s veterans – by hiring veterans, getting involved in local veterans’ organizations or simply by saying thanks on Veterans Day and every day.

“The day is …not a celebration of victory, rather it is a celebration of those who made it possible. It is a day we keep in mind the men and women of this young nation, generations of them who above all else believed in a set of ideals… laying aside jobs, comfortable home lives and their own safety so that all citizens of this country might regain that sense of security in the aftermath of 21st century terrorism…”