Every Friday before Memorial Day, Watertown Middle School honors those who fought for our country in an assembly.

After homeroom, the students made their way to the WMS auditorium to honor the soldiers that fought, and, for some, and died for our country. Students made their way to their seats, sat back, and waited for the veterans to come.

Through all the chatter, suddenly, the band struck up a march. In came the veterans, marching single-file down the row.

Some were young, others old, and but each had served their country. The oldest veterans served in World War II and Korea, and the middle-aged veterans fought in Vietnam and Desert Storm. The youngest fought in the recent Middle Eastern wars (Iraq and Afghanistan mainly), as well as two police officers, also veterans who were involved in the deadly manhunt that happened in our own town.

However, although they may have fought in different wars, they all have something in common. They are are ordinary people who have, or at least had, normal lives. They are the ordinary people who are thrusted into abnormal circumstances with abnormal courage.

A group of students wrote responses to the prompt, “What do you think ‘Watertown Strong’ means?” Many different answers came, but they all had a common theme, and that it is our people who make our town strong.

The veterans who served our country are yet another group of strong people from Watertown.

    –May 30, 2013–