Charlie Kinkade piloted the Higgins boat that carried Theodore Roosevelt Jr. to the Normandy beach on D-Day during World War II.

"My niece interviewed (Kinkade) for a research paper," said Karen Smith-Cox, a teacher at Lovington High School. "He said there were so many bodies and wreckage he had to land at a different place (than planned)."

Kinkade was one of the honored guests at Lovington Grade School's Veterans Day program Thursday, and Smith-Cox introduced him to her students and told them all to shake his hand and thank him for his service. Since watching the PBS miniseries, "The War," she said, she can't even think of veterans without tears.

Thanking veterans is what Veterans Day is all about, Principal Anthony Galindo said.

"They protect us from any and all who would harm us or take away our freedoms," he told the assembled children.

Roger Burgess, a 20-year Navy veteran and adjutant of American Legion Post 429, quoted the film "The Great Raid," a true story in which Lt. Col. Henry Mucci said, "Nothing in our lives will ever be as important as this," as he leads a rescue mission to save 500 American prisoners from the Japanese.

"Can a CEO claim he has more responsibility than a 21-year-old squad commander on patrol in Baghdad?" Burgess said.

Military service taught Myron Kirby to appreciate his home, his family and his freedom. Kirby is the commander of the Department of Illinois in the American Legion.

"(The service) puts an imprint on a veteran that you can never shake," he said.

Being in the service makes Sgt. Nichole Allen feel she's giving something back, she said. She just returned from a year in Iraq and soon will be deployed to Afghanistan.

Allen was one of the military guests at Parsons School's Veterans Day event on Thursday in Decatur. As she left the auditorium afterward, she stopped to pick up and hug her niece, Haley Culter-Smith. E-mail helps her stay in touch with family, she said, and she tells the children, like Haley, not to worry about her; she'll be fine.

"I'm there to defend their freedom, so they can have a better life," Allen said.

And, she said, smiling, that people often stop her to thank her for serving. Many of them tell her they couldn't do what she does.

"It gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment, knowing that you did something worthwhile," she said. "That's why I do what I do, because others can't."

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