BLUE MOUND - When Craig Hanks came home from serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War, veterans weren't received with parades and warm welcomes the way they had been after World War II.

People often aimed their opposition to the Vietnam War at the veterans drafted to fight in it.

So he was touched by Meridian Intermediate School's salute to veterans Friday, the first time he'd attended the four-year-old event.

"This was kind of refreshing for me, because the home front wasn't always this hospitable to veterans of our generation," Hanks said.

Don Peterson, an Army veteran of World War II and the Korean War, said the war in Iraq is what has brought war home to Americans again. With war on living room TVs, sometimes as it happens, people understand the risks and hardships soldiers face.

"It's brought a lot more people out for the veterans," Peterson said. "After World War II, we had lots of things for the veterans, but after that, it seemed like people just forgot. But this thing in Iraq brought a lot of (patriotism) back out again, all over the country."

Fourth-grade students at Meridian planned the program for about two months, said student Seth Burris, whose cousin Adam Moma is serving in Iraq. For the first time this year, students served breakfast to the veterans before the program of patriotic songs and readings.

One of those patriotic songs was the Pledge of Allegiance put to music, led by the children as they stood in a large square around the perimeter of the Meridian gym. Students in Scouting wore their uniforms, and others dressed in small versions of military uniforms, in camouflage, red, white and blue and a few in costumes representing icons such as Lady Liberty, Uncle Sam and a white-wigged judge.

In past years, a grant paid for the program, said Principal Paul Carlton, but when that grant ran out, the school dipped into its own funds rather than let the tradition die.

"It's such a wonderful way to say thanks to veterans," Carlton said. "We can't thank them enough."

Valerie Wells can be reached at vwells@; herald-review.com or 421-7982.