FROM THE EDITOR.

Veterans Day is not a holiday I have spent much time thinking about in my lifetime. Freedom, patriotism, and honor are principles for which I have not given thanks on a daily basis. My generation has not had to face the reality of war that out parents and grandparents did, and so the luxury of freedom is something most of us thought about little and took for granted often. My life as a Mississippian, as an American, has been comfortable and safe. War was a word I found in my history books, never in my everyday conversation. Until now.

Now, when the freedom I have taken for granted has come under attack; now, when hero means a person willing to risk his life to protect the security and peace I enjoy; now, when our state and our country are different places than they were two months ago; now when war is eminent, sacrifice inescapable, and love for country at its height.

It is now that we must value and appreciate those men and women who lost their lives in the events of September 11, those who have worked so diligently to make the best of the damage, and those who have and who will leave their families and friends to fight for our nation. Now also, we must remember and be thankful for those who have sacrificed so much for this country in the past. Veterans Day has been set aside to honor men and women who went to war and returned. We all know them, and we should treasure their willingness to protect us in our country's fight against evil.

My grandfather and his twin brother both served in the Navy during World War II, and Uncle Dave has an amazing record of their time in the service. He has letters that he wrote to his parents and the letters his mother wrote to him, from the time he left home in the fall of 1944 to the summer of 1946, when he came home. The photograph here of the two brothers in uniform was taken when they were eighteen years old, leaving home for the first time to fight in a world war.

In the last issue, we requested that Mississippi' veterans share with us letters that they wrote in times of war. The response was overwhelming. We received letters from both of the world wars, from the Korean War, and two from the War Between the States; one of which had been kept in a family Bible for generations. The letters are each beautiful and poignant, filled with the expressions of love that come only with the knowledge that the words written may be their last. They are the telling of the stories of war from the individual, personal perspective. It seems to me that people just don't write letters like these anymore; it is a dying art, and one which I wish we would not let go.

Beginning on page 36, we have printed selections from these letters with a collection of photographs taken of Battlefield Military Park in Vicksburg, the site of the war fought on our state soil. These words and images serve as a tribute to both the veterans of wars past and to the veterans of this present war. They also serve as a reminder to each of us that freedom, honor, and patriotism should be things for which we daily give thanks, and Veterans Day a holiday that we take the time to say thank you to those who have served our country. This holiday season, may you and I be especially grateful for our many blessings--they have not come without a price.

A prayerful and blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas to each of you.

Jennifer Ellis West