While at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, I was looking at our American flag, as I always do. Most of the time it is flapping in the wind, or on rare occasions, it is still. And I thought—what does the flag mean to me? When I was young, I didn’t think much about wars. My father and uncles were in World War II and the Korean War. They never spoke about what happened. I learned much later that I was being shielded from the reality of war. But then the Vietnam War came along. Immediate...

I am often asked by friends and family why I go to interments.Why I stand in the sweltering heat of summer and the brutal cold of winter.Why I choose to witness some of life’s most emotional moments, over and over again. For me, the answer is simple. I feel called to give back to our Veterans—to show them that they mattered, that they are remembered, and that their lives hold meaning beyond the day they are laid to rest. Every time I hear Taps, it brings me a deep and steadying sense of...