Sunday, November 5 marked the 74th Veterans Day Parade in Brunswick, Maryland. It is the only one in the state officially designated - and one of only 20 in the nation. Held the first Sunday in November, a week or so ahead of the official day chosen to honor veterans, the ceremony and parade in Brunswick honors anyone who has ever served in any branch of the military - and those who are serving today. One speaker noted, "It's okay to be patriotic in Brunswick. It's okay in Brunswick to empathize with the men and women who are serving today." And then asked the question, "What is the best way to honor those who are serving and who have served? It isn't in this parade or ceremony. Or the flags we put up along the street. It's in the way we live our lives - in building our families, community and nation."

I've heard many speakers over the time I've covered this parade - about seven years - including a man who was in the Pentagon on Sept. 11. I listened to his description of the rescue efforts - and how, at the end, when they were bringing out those who had died, he said, "We held them up, as high as we could, and didn't allow them to touch the water that was inside - water mixed with fuel and filth. We couldn't let them touch it again. It was the only way we knew how to give them one last bit of dignity." I spoke with his wife after the ceremony and she told me he spent days at the Pentagon, sleeping on the ground, going in time after time. His lungs ended up scarred and damaged from breathing in the fumes inside the collapsed sections and other areas. And he persisted. It is the only time I've interviewed someone and cried hearing the story.

I'm sure there are many others out there that are, each in its own way, as moving.