![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) "I'm here to salute [veterans] and thank them for their service," said Albert Mora, 69, while watching the parade with his grandsons and wife. "They get a kick out of it and so do I." Mora's grandson Adrian, 7, salutes veterans at his side. Mora, an Army Airborne veteran who served in Vietnam, carried his older brother's WWII M-1 Grand rifle. Mora said seven of his eight brothers served in WWII, Korean War and the Vietnam War. Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/ALTHIMZIPZD3XMWFEORH2DCLXM.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/HSZQCOR7TBGWJEXFRMWG5VFYWM.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1481 from Ogden greets the crowd at Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/OEHALX6UNRC25HO3KZWLWQNTO4.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cashlin Glover had a big "Thank You" for veterans participating and watching Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/RFBM2YEI7BE4FNEG4XKS3GRSY4.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Chief Master Sergeant Rodney Koonce, the Command Chief Master Sergeant, 75th Air Base Wing, Hill Air Force Base greets the crowds at Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/QTMZ6362PJFPNG6Z4HVBCN2IDI.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Council President and Chairman of the Public Affairs Committee for the Vietnam Veterans of America Dennis E. Howland, center, greets and thanks fellow veterans for their service during Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/X74KK4ENKRDEPAZNVUCWNHJU7A.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Vietnam Veteran Truong Van Nghiem, center, marches with fellow members of the Vietnamese Community of Utah represent Vietnam Veterans, political refugee resettlement and immigrants after 1975 during Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/HZWGOBJE5VHQVFQEAOF4PGOVIA.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Weber County Mounted Posse member Ed Valdez waves to the crowd at Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/KUZHXKLTTFHZRPF757CPH3YRRQ.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Regan Grandy with the Utah Society Sons of the American Revolution during Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/NLICCQYX7JANZATOHE43QRKCH4.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the American Red Cross during Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/K6QIZ37OI5GOHILXNMC2NZXDKI.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/CZBR67FEVNB7FNF6WGNFWXBBQI.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Participants in Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/XMUELQGKNVHZLC2EAYZXUY7UVI.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the Harder Base Submarine Club during Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/2SNTTAE3CJDQZJBNUOIRSLNP7Q.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom Army Veteran Barney Johnson salutes fellow veterans as they pass during Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WJN55YXGFZBSLKF7ZEOH7WYTJM.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) A Marine survivor of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War, John Cole rides with other veterans awarded the Purple Heart during Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/ODDHHTPNTFEKPKJUKJYPYKRQ2U.jpg)
![(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Participants of Northern Utah’s 12th Annual Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 in Layton.](http://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/2IPETH5EX5GULKRUYSEBSSWMEU.jpg)
Rep. Chris Stewart had a simple message for those who came to hear him speak for Veterans Day at the Farmington City Cemetery: Remember the sacrifices.
An Air Force veteran himself, Stewart, R-Utah, told the crowd to remember and recognize the hardships military members face — and that they often don’t face the challenges alone.
If they don’t have a wife at home, they have a husband, or parents, or siblings.
“You have to remember that when they sacrifice, that there are families who are sacrificing, as well. We have to recognize that sacrifice,” he said.
As the son of an Air Force veteran who has many other military members in the family, Stewart told the crowd he’s seen firsthand the sacrifices people make.
Like when his mother loaded up seven kids and drove across the country alone because of his dad’s service, or how his nephew has to leave behind his wife and kids to go to special training on the East Coast, or the rows and rows of the nearly identical markers at military cemeteries he’s seen on his travels around the world.
“When we think of the sacrifice, I think all of us wonder, or at least we should wonder, why are they willing to do it? Why is someone willing to pay that price, in some cases the ultimate price?” he said.
The answer, Stewart said, is love of country and preserving and spreading freedom.
Of the estimated 100 billion people who’ve lived on Earth, only a small percentage have experienced freedom, and most of those people are alive right now, Stewart said.
“We are truly living in a remarkable time. We are living in a time when most of us look around and say, as I said, ‘Nah, this is way people lived.’ This is not true,” he said.
Stewart returned to his hometown Saturday for American Legion Post 27’s Veterans Day ceremony. About 80 people attended the event, which included short remarks by Mayor Jim Talbot and Post 27 Cmdr. Kent Hansen.
The event began at 11:11 a.m. with a flag ceremony and the pledge of allegiance.
Scott Karren came to the cemetery Saturday with his four grandchildren, his wife and his father-in-law, a World War II veteran.
Karren, whose dad was in the Army during the Korean War, said he brought his grandchildren to the ceremony to remind them how precious freedom is. He said that’s a concept many younger people don’t understand.
“I just want to make sure they understand the sacrifices that all these people have made throughout the years to keep us free,” he said.