HURON – South Dakotans must never forget the sacrifices of the more than 2,600 soldiers from this state who have fallen in the line of duty so that those back home can continue to enjoy freedom, the secretary of the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs said Thursday.
Larry Zimmerman is the first secretary to serve in the office since it was established as a cabinet-level position.
The veteran population of South Dakota runs the gamut from 17-year-olds who can join a year prior to their 18th birthday with their parents’ signatures to the great heroes of the older veterans, he said at the “Salute to Veterans’ program at the South Dakota State Fair.
Two of those older veterans in the audience served in World War II.
Zimmerman pointed them out in particular because he said all of the World War I veterans are gone.
“Keep all these veterans in your thoughts and prayers, think about them every day. Thank you all for your service,” he said.
Along with the fallen, there are more than 70,000 other heroes like those attending the State Fair program. Thousands more are on active duty, with hundreds from South Dakota serving overseas.
“They raised their right hand and went to serve our country so we can sit here today and do the pledge of allegiance and stand while our choir sings the national anthem,” Zimmerman said.
“We are honored to stand, give that salute, place that hand over the heart, like those people who raised that right hand, signed their allegiance to our constitution and our country and our state,” he said.
South Dakotans should always remember the 2,600 who weren’t standing when they came home, but arrived in flag-draped coffins, he said.
Zimmerman encouraged people to approach veterans and ask about their service.
“Find out what they did, where they went,” he said. “Because it is a novel, it’s not the five minutes you speak with them, it’s not the 10 minutes you’ve known them, it is your great uncles and aunts, it is your brothers and sisters and grandfathers and uncles.
“You won’t understand until you talk to them,” he said.
Zimmerman also said South Dakota veterans have a reputation of taking care of their own.
There are 26 service organizations in South Dakota and 1,500 nonprofit organizations which deal with veterans and their families, he said.
In his remarks to the audience, Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who had proclaimed Thursday to be Veterans Day at the State Fair, said the freedoms and abundance that Americans enjoy is often taken for granted.
“We forget how precious it is and how uncommon it is for so many people around the world, how lucky we are to be Americans,” he said.
People are dying every day in countries where there is lawlessness and civil war, where they are starving because relief aid can’t get to them safely, he said. Others are killed by acts of terrorism, he said.
“In these war-torn countries, in these terrorist-ridden countries, these kinds of things are regular occurrences and children are used as pawns of war,” Daugaard said.
In the United States, sports stars are frequently idolized as heroes, he said.
“Really, it’s people like you, people like you who risk your lives to keep us free, you’re the real heroes and you deserve our gratitude and respect,” Daugaard said.
