The items were humble, but the spirit in which they were collected was brilliant Tuesday. As members of the Princeton Senior High School JROTC program handed over deodorant, eye drops, socks and snacks to Sgt. Derek Tilley, they showed their thanks to members of the West Virginia National Guard’s 1st Battalion of the 150th Armor Regiment.

The 500 or so men and women are currently in Iraq, fighting insurgents, sand, wind and homesickness, many of them for their second active-duty deployment since late 2003.

As we prepare to mark Veterans Day at home, the PSHS students completed their semester’s service learning project by donating small items to make their lives in the dessert a little bit better.

Their gifts were small, but the gesture was as grand and heartfelt as the parades that will march through American streets next Wednesday.

Next week, we will honor them and all American military men and women with a day that began as a celebration of peace and has evolved into a way to pay tribute to those who have selflessly walked into war in pursuit of that same calm circumstance that seems so fleeting today.

Eighty-one years ago, Congress declared that Nov. 11, 1918 marked the "cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed."

The day, which became known as Armistice Day in 1938, was established to be "commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding…"

But Americans would soon learn that World War I would not be the war to end all wars, and many more would die within the next two decades in the attempts to protect a nation. After World War II forced the largest mobilization in U.S. military history and American soldiers had fought aggression in Korea, Congress amended the holiday’s name in 1954 and called it simply Veterans Day.

Today, we know all too well that keeping peace at home sometimes means fighting the difficult battles abroad, but thanks to those brave men and women who offer their service and dedication in the quest for liberty and justice for all, Americans still have many, many reasons to give thanks on Veterans Day.

Whether they have fought opponents on the shores of Normandy, the swamps of Vietnam, the deserts of Iraq, the rocky cliffs of Afghanistan or against the dangers determined to take hold inside our own borders, American veterans have steadfastly served and sacrificed for their nation and the people who live in the freedom they were, and are, charged with protecting.

It is thanks to these strong service people and their dedication to defending the American dream that the rest of us may live the ideal.

We are free because they fought off the enemies who would attach the shackles of oppression and dictatorship.

We are free because they left their homes and loved ones to ensure those beloved places and people could still stand strong.

We are free because they promised to protect a nation and kept their word.

Their sacrifice and service have saved our world and preserved a way of life unique to this nation.

For these reasons and so many more, we salute all American veterans with everything from star-spangled banners and marching bands to saline solution and dry socks.

Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.