P.O. Box 142 — Sykesville, MD 21784

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Reprint from Gazette

November 11 , 2004

In the spirit of celebrating our local veterans, please join the Freedom Area Citizens' Council (FACC) in welcoming US Army Major Tim O'Neil together with several veterans who have served in the military's global war on terrorism. The FACC meeting is tonight (November 18th) at 7:30 pm at the Freedom Christian Church in Carrolltowne Center. Veterans will share some of their experiences and a photo presentation will be shown. Please note that next month's FACC meeting will be held Thursday, December 9th and will feature all three Carroll County Commissioners.

The week of Veterans Day saw numerous celebrations of our local veterans. In this time of global conflict, Veterans Day took on increased significance, especially in light of the current challenges that our country's military organizations face. It also served as a reminder of the thousands of men and women in both active service and our military reserves. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs there are approximately 525,000 veterans living in the State of Maryland alone.

Maryland has at least seven (7) resource organizations dedicated exclusively to serving veterans including the American Legion, AMVETS, Maryland Veterans Commission, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Many in our community know families who have lost a family member in service to our country. Many more have a friend or relative serving in the military who may either be deployed, fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan or perhaps in one of over a hundred countries with a U.S. military presence. Thousands more reserve soldiers and national guard troops are additionally deployed in our homeland defense right here in our country or waiting to be called up to active duty outside U.S. borders, some for the second or third times.

We commemorate the efforts and sacrifices of those who served in American uniform in the past half-century; in World War II and Korea and Vietnam, and in the Cold War, and also in all the smaller engagements - from the Gulf Wars to Grenada, Bosnia and Somalia - all which extracted their toll in blood and sweat.

The sacrifice to our country of our uniformed veterans both living and dead has been huge and is the foundation of our great nation. As we pursue democracy and freedom across the globe, it is important for us to remember that it is the sacrifice of our veterans, which has kept our great country safe and ensures the very American freedoms we enjoy today.