CEO Message: Veterans Day 2021
In 1954, when President Dwight Eisenhower signed the law that changed Armistice Day, which honored the veterans of World War I, to Veterans Day, which honors all of America’s veterans, he did so as one of our nation’s most decorated veterans. Eisenhower was a military hero who fully understood and appreciated the great resource of courage, leadership, training and experience that veterans bring to our society and our country.
It was as a veteran that Eisenhower served as president of Columbia University and became a two-term president of the United States. He viewed Veterans Day not through the lens of memory but through the lens of personal responsibility, and he called on all of us “to live in ways that support the eternal truths upon which our Nation is founded, and from which flows all its strength and all its greatness.”
There are 29 veterans among the 45 individuals who have served as U.S. president — and each one brought a unique set of skills and experiences from their military service to the role of commander in chief.
While it includes honoring all veterans, living and dead, the focus on Veterans Day is expressing appreciation to our living heroes — those men and women whose lives of service continue to bless and inspire us. Veterans bring back so much from their service into the fabric of our nation — they are often a transforming presence in our day-to-day lives.
At MultiCare, we are privileged to work alongside veterans in virtually every part of our organization, and it is a privilege to honor and thank them personally for their service. On this Veterans Day, let us be mindful of our veteran heroes — in honoring those who have passed and in expressing gratitude and appreciation for the way veterans enrich our communities and our lives.
To all our veterans — thank you for your service. If someone from your family is serving our country in one of the armed services today, thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for our country. We recognize and honor you this Veterans Day.
