ABOVE: Retired National Guard Command Sergeant Major and combat Veteran Tom Behrends speaks to fellow veterans, teachers, family members, and students who attended the Veterans Day event at Fairmont High School on Tuesday.

FAIRMONT – Retired National Guard Command Sergeant Major and combat Veteran Tom Behrends spoke to Fairmont youth at Fairmont High School for Veterans Day on Tuesday.

Principal Chad Brusky said Veterans Day is about people.

“It’s about the men and women, some of them from right here in Martin County, who chose to serve,” he said. “They left the familiar comfort of small towns like the one we live in, for whatever duty called, trusting that they were doing something that mattered. Many of them came home and continued serving in new ways, as teachers, coaches, business owners and volunteers.”

Brusky introduced Behrends, describing his service through initially signing up for the guard in 1980, becoming a squad leader in the infantry platoon by 1986, being promoted to first sergeant in 1995 and serving in Iraq from April 2006 to July 2007 as a Command Sergeant Major in the first 125th field artillery. He retired in 2010 with 29 years of service.

The entire auditorium recited the pledge service members give when they enlist at the request of Behrends. He said those words change people.

“It means that you are no longer a civilian,” he said. “You are a member of the United States of America armed forces, and you are prepared to give your life for your country. Pretty powerful commitment, depending on the timing of a veteran’s life. They may serve during peacetime, if our nation is not at war, or they may end up in the jungles of Vietnam, the mountains of Afghanistan, the deserts of Iraq, but they are all veterans.”

After this, Behrends recounted the story of Martha Cothren, a history teacher at Robinson High School who, on the first day of school in September 2005, with permission from the school, took all the desks away from her classroom. Cothren said she would give the desks back if the students could say how they had earned the right to sit in those desks.

When no student could provide an answer by the end of the day, Behrends said the message of the lesson was delivered when 27 veterans each put one desk down in rows for the students to sit in.

“Martha Cothren said, ‘You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks, these heroes did it for you,'” Behrends said. “‘They placed a desk here for you. They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families, so you can have the freedom you have now. It’s up to you to sit in them. It says your responsibility is to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens.'”

When it comes to American soldiers, Behrends said it is the idealism of their service that enemy combatants remember.

“The American soldier does not fight for glory or for spoils,” he said. “These things are completely opposed to what it means to be a son or daughter of democracy. To the contrary, an American soldier fights for ideals and a way of life, and there is nothing more precious than national defense, than soldiers who fight for things they believe in. This is the call that has gone and gone out to every generation of Americans.”

Any day of the year, Behrends said veterans can and should be recognized for their service in whatever way people can do so.

“When you see one, thank them for their service,” he said. “If they are wearing a hat signifying that they were overseas, tell them welcome home. If we see a veteran license plate behind us in a drive-through. Pay ahead for their meal. You see a veteran dining somewhere, purchase their meal anonymously, if you’d like.”

In this same vein, the speech was ended by Behrends speaking on the veterans of America and the path forward.

“Let us always remember the men and women of our military and the rights they have won for us as we move forward, remember the ideals that service members have fought for,” he said. “Freedom is not free. God bless each and every one of you, and God bless America.”

Similar events were held in schools at Martin County West, Granada-Huntley-East Chain, Truman and Blue Earth Area schools. Veterans Day dinners were also held at American Legion Post 36 and Welcome Legion Hall.