Many of us don’t know what it’s like. We’ve never been through boot camp, and we’ve never been yelled at as part of our job. We’ve never been shipped off to war, and we’ve never watched a friend die in battle.

But many others have.

Right here in Mower County, we have veterans like James Rogers, an Austin resident who served in the Third Marine Division, First Battalion during World War II.

For soldiers like him, and all of our other service men and women, Veterans Day was founded.

We celebrate our veterans today to give them thanks for the sacrifices they have made so that we can live free.

In honor of this occasion, several local events are taking place, including a flag retirement ceremony at the VFW Post 1216 at 3 p.m., a MIA/POW ceremony at the VFW at 4 p.m. and an evening meal for veterans at the VFW at 4:15 p.m.

We are proud our community has taken an active role in hosting all of today’s events, and we show our admiration to our local veterans for the time they served, their bravery and their honor.