Above: Minnesota State Representative Bjorn Olson.

GRANADA- Granada Huntley East-Chain School’s annual Veterans Day program on Thursday featured guest speaker Minnesota State Representative Bjorn Olson, who shed light on the history of Veterans Day.

Olson is a Captain in the United States Army Reserve. He serves with the 457th Transportation Battalion out of Fort Snelling.

“I have not done anything to warrant your thanks. There are millions of Americans who have. I’m not one of them,” Olson said.

He said his job is to make sure soldiers are trained and ready to go and while he hasn’t been called to duty, he’s ready in the event that he’s called.

Olson said he was surprised to see the large number of adults in the crowd, as he thought he would be addressing just students. He said it reminded him of a statistic that says 60 percent of the U.S. military is comprised of rural individuals.

“I had to look it up and 19.3 percent of the population of the United States live in rural America. So our 19.3 percent comprises 60 percent of the United States military,” Olson said.

He said seeing all of the Veterans and individuals at the program proved to him that the flag and what it represents means a lot to us collectively.

Turning to the student body, Olson said, “Though you probably don’t know, I used to be a 7th grade history teacher so there will be a lesson involved.”

He said there’s two times a year where the service of military members are recognized: Memorial Day and Veterans Day. He said Memorial Day is meant to recognize the sacrifices of soldiers, military members who have lost their lives in service to the country.

“That’s why we recognize Memorial Day, you don’t celebrate Memorial Day,” Olson said.

On the other hand, Olson said Veterans Day is where individuals who have served the nation are recognized and thanked.

He shared that Veterans Day started as Armistice Day. He said on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, in the year 1918, World War I ended.

“Everyone thought, how can we recognize the sacrifices that have been made. Something like 35 million people lost their lives during that war,” Olson said.

He said Armistice Day was created and in 1954, it was changed to Veterans Day because after WWII, there was a need to recognize those who served in every war.

“In 1921, on this day, an unknown solider was laid to rest in Arlington. Six months prior to that day, in 1921, there were four caskets of American soldiers and we had no idea who they were,” Olson said.

One of them was chosen to represent all fallen, unknown soldiers in the United States.

Olson said he’s been to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery in Virginia and the majority of individuals there are unknown. He said several years ago he went on a WWI tour of sorts in France.

“The saddest thing you can ever see is a gravestone that says ‘an unknown U.S. solider, known only to God,'” Olson said.

He wrapped up his speech by thanking the crowd for being there.

“This is a huge deal. Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Veterans Day are some of the most important holidays in the United States and it means a lot to me seeing all of the adults here today,” Olson said.

The Veterans Day program also included performances by the middle school band, middle school choir and songs by students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade.

Third through fifth grade students also sung the theme song for the different branches of the U.S. military, including Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force and Marines. A slideshow honoring the Veterans of GHEC was also shown.