Monday marks Veterans Day, the time citizens of the United States pause to honor the men and women of the nation’s military and serve to protect and preserve the freedom we too often take for granted.

The day’s roots begin at the end of World War I, when the fighting stopped at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month — Nov. 11, 1918. The Treaty of Versailles that actually ended the war wasn’t signed until June 1919.

That conflict — the War to End All Wars, as it was called — left more than 17 million people dead. Of those, almost 10 million served in the various armies involved — 117,000 of them from the United States — and more than 6 million civilians died during the course of the war. Disease claimed more people than bullets.

President Woodrow Wilson noted the day the fighting stopped in a proclamation, which led states to follow his lead. During the following years, 27 states declared Veterans Day as an official holiday, with Congress making it a federal holiday in 1938.

The day serves to honor those who serve and once served America in uniform.

Once their time in uniform is complete, many veterans join in organizations to further serve their communities. Legion posts as well as Veterans of Foreign Wars posts play important roles.

Those who serve in the nation’s Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and Space Force stand ready to defend liberty whenever necessary. They leave family and friends behind to travel around the globe in an effort to preserve peace and protect Americans.

President Joe Biden recognized the debt Americans owe to the men and women who serve: “And we must never forget that it is the mighty arm of the American warrior — never bending, never breaking, never yielding — generation after generation that secured for us the blessings of a nation that still stands today as a beacon of liberty, democracy and justice around the world.”

Let us hope that will always be the case. Be sure and thank the veterans in your lives on this special day.