uss-coloradoFifteen years after 9/11, twenty-six years after the Iraqi army was driven out Kuwait, forty-one years after the fall of Saigon, sixty-five years after the Chosin Reservoir, and 74 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, we turn the page on another Veterans Day.  Since 1918, when the first Armistice Day was marked, the nation traditionally has marked the eleventh day of the eleventh month as a holiday to honor and remember those who served in the military.

Although a relatively young state, Colorado has a unique military history of its own.

  • The battleship USS Colorado served in the Pacific during WWII, with diverse duty that included everything from guarding the entrance to San Francisco to supporting landings on the Marshall Islands and Guam.  She was attacked numerous times: sustaining shelling from coastal artillery units and survived two direct kamikaze strikes.
  • Four Medal of Honor recipients (Drew Dix, Jerry Murphy, Carl Sitter, and Wiliam Crawford) hail from Pueblo.
  • Sal Giunta, the first living Medal of Honor recipient since Vietnam, moved his family to Colorado after he separated from the military.

Please take some time to day to thank one of the more than 400,000 veterans that live in our state. And for you veterans out there, check out one of these places that are offering meals and other freebies as a symbol of their gratitude on this Veterans Day.