On this Veterans Day, Americans have more than 23.2 million fellow citizens to salute. The nation’s veterans include 1.8 million women and 160,000 Native Ameri-cans/Alaska Natives, according to 2008 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Montana is home to about 105,000 veterans, including 8,000 women. Veterans account for roughly 7.5 percent of the U.S. population and 11.6 percent of Montana’s population.

The many veterans who live in Montana are our friends and neighbors. They are people like Floyd and Jim Hertz of Billings, who saw combat in Korea. Gazette reporter Lorna Thackeray told the Hertz brothers’ story in Monday’s edition. Jim and Floyd are two of six brothers from a Billings family who all served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Montana women serve

Montana veterans are pioneers who were among the first women to serve in the U.S. armed forces. As Gazette reporter Mary Pickett wrote in Sunday’s edition, Joyce Roque of Dean served in Germany as a surgical tech in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps from 1949 to 1952. Aylett Irvin of Absarokee served in the South Pacific in World War II as a technical sergeant. She was a member of the U.S. Women’s Army Corps.

Montana women have served our nation in every war since. Among them are Joyce Babcock of Custer, who as a member of the U.S. Navy hospital corps cared for soldiers wounded in Vietnam. She later became the first female state commander the American Legion in Montana. In another profile, Pickett told the story of Linda Payne of Billings, who served in the U.S. Army, Army Reserves and Montana National Guard, attaining the rank of staff sergeant.

At a ceremony this morning at the Armed Forces Reserve Center, local veterans will be honored guests. Among the dignitaries invited are Ben Steele, a well-known Billings artist who survived the Bataan Death March and 3½ years in Japanese army captivity. Another World War II POW, Art Klein, endured nearly four years in prison camps where many other Americans died.

Dean Gallus also has been invited. He earned three Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star for combat service in the Pacific theater. Another World War II hero on today’s program is Herb Livingston, who participated in multiple U.S. Marine combat landings in Pacific battles of World War II.

These World War II veterans remind us why theirs is called “the greatest generation.” The Census Bureau reports that 9.2 million veterans are older than age 65. Many are nearing 90.

More young veterans

Meanwhile, the ranks of younger veterans are growing. As of last year, 1.9 million U.S. veterans were younger than 35. These are Americans such as Vanna Ludlow of Billings, who joined the U.S. Army Reserves at age 17. At 18, she was serving in Iraq.

Today is the time to remember those veterans who were lost in war and to thank those who live. This Veterans Day we are painfully aware that U.S. military personnel put themselves in harm’s way in wars halfway around the world and also make tremendous sacrifices at home.

Let us remember Michael Grant Cahill, 62, a physician assistant who had served in the Montana National Guard for 14 years and formerly worked at the Billings VA clinic. He was among the 13 people gunned down last week at Fort Hood, Texas. His wife, Joleen, a Roundup native, said they had planned to retire to Montana. Montanans’ hearts and prayers are with the Cahill family today.