(MassLive- Dennis Honhenberger) “A veteran is a person, at some point in their life, who wrote a blank check up to losing their life.”
State Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, shared this grave contemplation during Saturday’s Veterans Day ceremony at the city’s War Memorial Building. Velis knows the sacrifice intimately, as he’s an Army reservist and one of several speakers who honored past and present service members at the weekend event.
Velis noted that fewer than 1% of Americans serve in the military, which is reliant on volunteer service since the draft was abolished in 1973. He noted that war will remain part of the human condition, a fact he took no joy in.