Bluffton eighth grader Ethan Bogart is the overall winner in a Lima Elks Lodge essay contest. The contest theme was "Why our veterans are America's heroes." Ethan is a student in Robin Ault's language arts class. His winning essay follows.

By Ethan Bogart
I think that our Veterans are extremely important, and they are most definitely America’s Heroes.

People tend to forget about veterans, and I think that is absolutely terrible. If they would have to go through what our veterans had to go through, they would understand. If everybody knew about the sacrifices that our veterans have made and still make every day, there would be no kneeling during the National Anthem.

People don’t realize how important it is to be a veteran. Without them, who knows what our country would be like right now. I know we would definitely have a very different life. And trust me, it wouldn’t be for the better.

Thanks to our veterans, we have the ability to make choices all the time in our daily life. In other countries, citizens have no rights, no choices, and no freedom.

Thanks to our veterans, we all have the power to do anything we want within reason. If you want to get a very well paying job, you can work towards it and you have a chance of getting it.

If you are okay with having a job that doesn’t pay as well, you can do that as well.

I think that the ability to make choices like that is what makes America Beautiful. And it is all thanks to our veterans, which truly makes them “America’s Heroes”.