AMERICAN LEGION POST #14 - BOZEMAN, MONTANA



SOMETHING earned

Bozeman marks Veterans Day with ceremony

By ALEX MILLER

Chronicle Staff Writer

Being a veteran is an earned distinction.

The message of this year’s Veterans’ Day celebration at the Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman was that regardless of the path taken to get there, all veterans earned that title.

The event was hosted by the American Legion and was attended by more than three dozen people, civilian and veteran alike, who braved below freezing temperatures and falling snow. Many huddled under trees at the base of the Vietnam War Memorial in Bozeman.

There was a seven gun salute, where the crack of rifles rang off three volleys into the snowy sky. When the ringing of the rifle fire dissipated, the tinny, somber sound of “Taps” — springing from Melissa Smith’s bugle — crept its way through the cemetery.

Len Albright, zone commander of Bozeman’s American Legion, led the proceedings. He gave a speech, backed by the snow-capped black stone of the Vietnam War Memorial wall, that touched on the sacrifices that men and women of the armed forces make when signing up to serve, like the joys of mail call, and the sadness of missing events back home.

Veterans carry a heavy burden when they come home, sometimes physical, sometimes psychological. But they also share a bond that Albright said few ever experience, one that goes beyond the branches of service they signed up for.

“Being a veteran is something that had to be earned, and could never be taken away,” Albright said. “It has no monetary value, but at the same time it is a priceless gift.”