WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush urged Americans Tuesday to recognize the valor and sacrifice of the nation's military veterans.
His call was issued in a Veteran's Day and National Veterans Awareness Week proclamation and coincided with a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to meet with soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Americans live in freedom because of our veterans' courage, dedication to duty and love of country," he said in the proclamation. "They have defended our founding ideals, protected the innocent and liberated the oppressed from tyranny and terror."
Thursday, November 11, is officially Veterans Day. November 7 through 13 was designated by Bush as National Veterans Awareness Week.
Bush's visit to the military hospital, his sixth, was restricted. No press was allowed to accompany him and the first lady into the facility to observe the meetings, which in the past were highly emotional events.
