American Legion District Commander Michael Westergren talked to the Veterans Day crowd about service to country. Also participating in the program were, from left: Service Officer Paul Eagle, 1st Vice Commander Charles Johnston and Chaplain Willard Crain. (Photos by Lee “Cat” McLane)

About 50 people attended the Veterans Day ceremony at the Beebe Veterans Monument.

There were about 50 people in attendance at the Veterans Day ceremony hosted by American Legion Post 91 of Beebe. District Commander Michael Westergren spoke to the crowd about service to country, saying, “A veteran - whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made to ‘The United States of America’ for an amount of up to, and including his life. That is honor and there are way too many people in this country today who no longer understand that fact!”  He went on to say that veterans are ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things. He gave several examples of extraordinary veterans and what they have accomplished.
“Today is important because we choose to honor the living veterans from the Greatest Generation to the Latest Generation. But we must honor them with deeds, not just words,” Westergren said.
Westergren quoted our first Commander-in-Chief, Gen. George Washington,  saying “The willingness with which our young people will fight in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.”