Without veterans, Americans wouldn’t be where we are today.
That was just one takeaway from Mike Schaffer’s speech at the Balaton Veterans’ Day program on Tuesday.
“Without them, without you, we wouldn’t be able to reach where we could be tomorrow,” said Schaffer, a past Minnesota State American Legion Commander, and Air Force veteran who served on active duty form 1970-1974. “Remember, Veterans’ Day isn’t just a day for veterans, it’s a day for all Americans. It’s a day to remember why they were fighting.”
Schaffer began his speech by recognizing the date Nov. 11, 1918, as a day of celebration for the entire free world, as World War I came to an end when the armistice was signed.
“Today, November the 11th, 2025, we celebrate the 107th ending of the Great War,” he said. “The day was originally declared Armistice Day about eight years after the end of World War I and honored only veterans from that war.”
FORMER MINNESOTA STATE AMERICAN LEGION COMMANDER Mike Schaffer delivered the keynote speech at Tuesday’s Veterans’ Day program in Balaton. Photo / Per Peterson
Later, in 1954 after World War II and the Korean War, he continued, President Harry S. Truman signed a proclamation officially changing Armistice Day to Veterans’ Day so all veterans who served their country during war would be honored and remembered.
“Today we honor all our veterans who placed their lives on the line for our freedom,” he said. “We celebrate this day, we honor veterans today, because we know without them, there would be no land of the free at all.”
Without the veterans of the American Revolution, there would be no United States of America, he continued. Without the veterans from the Civil War era who fought on either side for what they believed in, he added, the strong, united America we know today might never have been possible at all.
“And without the veterans of World War II, we might be living in a world where freedom of speech, or the right to vote, no longer existed,” he said. “Those currently fighting the war on freedom or terrorism, we’d be living in constant fear.”
The men and women who have fought or are still fighting today are ordinary people who answered the call of duty, leaving behind their families, their homes and their lives, not for recognition, fame or honors bestowed on them on Veterans’ Day, but to protect our country and maintain our way of life.
“We must teach our future generations about what it means to be an American,” he said. “We must volunteer in our local communities, take care of veterans and their families.”
Schaffer, an active member of the Currie American Legion Post 322 for 54 years, was a rural mail carrier for more than 23 years.
Lew Roberts, the commander of he Balaton American Legion, served as the master of ceremonies. After the invocation and benediction was given by Skandia Evangelical Free Church Pastor Ryan Petersen, a special reading was offered by Dorothy Dobberstein titled “The Lark Above the Trenches,” a World War I-era poem meant to capture the brutality and despair of war in contrast to the resilience and found amidst destruction.
Tuesday’s program also included the singing of the “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America.” The audience was accompanied by Bev Swift on the piano.
BALATON AMERICAN LEGION member Lynn Wichmann salutes the flag at Tuesday’s Veterans’ Day program. Photo / Per Peterson
