Flags were raised, salutes were rendered and &#8220Taps” was played.

Lawrence Countians paid tribute Friday to the men and women who have served their country through the years.

At Woodland Cemetery, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8850 placed wreaths on the marker in the soldier's section. The Disabled American Veterans Chapter 51 took its message of honor and sacrifice to area schools.

&#8220Today is a special day, a remarkable day, really,” VFW State Commander Cliff Bauer said in his keynote address at the cemetery. &#8220It is to honor an extraordinary and select group of people Š who answered the call when their country called.”

Bauer praised not only those who have served their country but those men and women who are serving now. He asked those who assembled to pledge that they would not forget the concerns of both veterans and today's service men and women when those who have been brave someday become sick and otherwise in need of support.

&#8220Let us fight for benefits and kindness,” he said. &#8220Our veterans have earned and deserve it.

For some who once served their country, Veterans Day may come only once a year, but every day they bear the scars of their sacrifice. Time has often not dimmed the memory of that service, that fight, that war long ago.

&#8220The worst fight I ever fought was in November 1967. It ended on Thanksgiving Day,” said Dave Carmon, a Vietnam veteran who once belonged to the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Division and now wears a Purple Heart.

&#8220By the time it ended, 157 had died and most of the rest of us were injured. The jungles were so thick you couldn't see. They (the North Vietnamese Army) were dug in.”

Fellow Purple Heart Ronald McFann said he could understand what Carmon went through because he had fought the same enemy in those jungles of Vietnam. But he said while he and Carmon and other veterans have this common bond, their experiences are often incomprehensible to those who have never walked a mile in their combat boots.

&#8220If you've never been there, people just don't understand what we went through,” McFann said.

Stephen Saunders understands what McFann and Carmon went through. The commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 51 was in Uncle Sam's Air Force from 1971 to 1975. Thursday he tried to impress upon children at Kingsbury Elementary that war is a dirty job that no one wants to do, but someone has to do. Veterans stepped up to the plate for a reason.

&#8220Nobody wants to leave their family and go into a place that's dangerous but we do it because we love our country and we want our family to stay safe,” he told them.

Veterans Day, he explained, was the nation's way of saying &#8220thank you” to those who put their own safety and security at risk to protect the peace and freedom of others. It is a way of remembering those who never came home from those wars and the others who came home but their lives were never the same.

&#8220Some have been shot, wounded, poisoned, have bad dreams,” he said. &#8220But still, they're proud of having served, to be counted among the faithful who didn't run when their country called. It's about standing up for what's right.”