Gwinnett County honors centenarian veterans

You know what today is, right? Today is Veterans Day and want to certainly acknowledge all of the men and women out there who have served our country and say a big thank you. Right now, Gwinnett County is hosting a ceremony at the Fallen Heroes Memorial on the grounds of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center. They're going to be honoring centenarian veterans. So let's listen in for a few minutes to include Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. And finally, is there anyone here currently serving active duty or military reserves? Please stand up if you're here. And to those that couldn't be here today, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they are deployed around the world. I'm so honored to be here in your presence. Thank you all for your service and your sacrifice. And thank you to your families for their sacrifice and their service by holding down the home fronts while you veterans fought for our freedoms. We owe each and every one of you a debt of gratitude. I am fortunate to be married to Ed Reese, a Navy veteran from Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I am the daughter of Ron Bice. A retired captain from the Gwinnett County Fire Department and a Navy diver from the Vietnam era. My grandfathers both served during World War II. Maren Weiss, our granddaddy is everyone who knew him as, served with the U.S. Army. He served in the Pacific as part of the first occupational force in Japan and was a Gwinnett County Commissioner for 16 years. And my mother's father, Richard Everett, who also served in the U.S. Army, Battery A. 698 Field Artillery and several European campaigns to include Anzio. I wish my grandfathers could be here today, but they are no longer with us. My daddy, my personal hero, served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1973. My husband, Ed Reese, served in the U.S. Navy from 1990 to 1995 and was serving on board the USS Midway when she fired the first sorties of the turning of the Desert Shield into Desert Storm and was deployed back to the region aboard the USS Truxton. I'm also a bonus mom to stepson Benjamin Reese, who served from 2015 to 2024 as a U.S. Navy Corpsman FMF, Fleet Marine Force, Devil Doc to you Marines. What is a U.S. veteran? According to U.S. law, a veteran is a person who served in the active U.S. military under naval, air, land, or space service, and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable. Title 38 of the U.S. Code and Veterans Affairs Department of Veterans Affairs policies state that veteran status is determined by fulfillment of the service requirement, the service discharge, and the length of service. I would like to expand on that a definition a little further. Like my mother once stated, a veteran is a father, husband, son, brother, wife, mother, daughter, or sister that has pledged their allegiance not only to the military, but also to our country. Many risked their lives by that pledge, and many gave their lives while doing so. All injuries from war are not always visible. Some were, and some are haunted to this day by horrible memories. Thankfully, there are those helping those veterans with those injuries. To all of our veterans that are here today with us, we owe you all, each and every one of you, a debt of gratitude that we could never possibly repay. We appreciate you, and we love you, and thank you for your service. Veterans, you may be seated. I just got a little bit. All right, everybody. Again, you're listening in right now to a Veterans Day ceremony in Gwinnett County. Looks like a wonderful day out there and so many wonderful ceremonies happening. We'll continue checking in on those live throughout the hour here on Fox 5 Atlanta.