Senator O'Mara offers his weekly perspective on many of the key challenges and issues facing the Legislature, as well as on legislative actions, local initiatives, state programs and policies, and more.  Stop back every Monday for Senator O'Mara's latest column...

This week, "Remembering veterans, honoring freedom"

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

These words from former President Ronald Reagan have echoed across the many decades ever since and never more poignantly than on the national observance of Veterans Day. 

Fought for. Protected. Handed on. Travel throughout this region’s communities and it’s striking to reflect on the common landmarks standing as reminders of the guiding principles and the underlying and unifying foundations of our nation: town and village halls, county courthouses, churches, elementary schools, community parks, local public libraries. 

Here on the doorstep of 2026, a year that will be highlighted by the celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary, these fundamental places still recall the very reasons for our nation’s founding and her endurance as the world’s great democracy.

This is especially true of the monuments and memorials that have been raised in memory of our veterans. Indeed, there are no greater or more powerful and meaningful landmarks and on Veterans Day, Americans will gather around them to remember. 

Many of us will stand tall and proud at local ceremonies across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions to honor the sacrifices and the victories of our soldiers — past, present, and future. In so doing, pride in this nation’s armed forces is reaffirmed and, of course, we turn our thoughts and prayers to those soldiers whom we’ve lost from here at home.

The freedoms we cherish have been hard-fought and hard-won by the soldiers of previous generations and by those of this generation who have continued to serve. They are true American heroes, and we are grateful to every one of them.

Sacrifice is the truth that we salute on Veterans Day and that includes the sacrifices of our military families, whom we recognize throughout the month of November during National Military Family Appreciation Month.

In early October, Assemblyman Phil Palmesano and I joined family members, friends, and fellow veterans to honor the memory of United States Army Sergeant James S. Hayes of Penn Yan through the official designation of a section of State Route 14 in Yates County as the “Sergeant James S. Hayes Memorial Highway.”  We sponsored this year’s law making the designation and hope it will stand as a lasting tribute to the life and service of Sergeant Hayes, a highly decorated combat veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

To always honor our veterans is also the reason that the New York State Senate established a Veterans Hall of Fame in 2005. This year, I was proud to sponsor the induction of Steuben County native Scott Ward, a highly decorated U.S. Army veteran who also served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as this year’s inductee into the Hall of Fame representing our 58th Senate District. During a well-attended ceremony recently at the Bath American Legion Post #173, family members, friends, and fellow veterans paid a tribute to Scott. Following his military service, Scott returned home to Steuben County where he has devoted his life’s work to service in agriculture, education, and stronger communities. He has positively impacted many lives, and I am proud to have had the chance, through the Senate Veterans Hall of Fame, to express our region’s collective gratitude and respect.

New York State government seeks to constantly honor military service through the development of new laws and the administration of programs and services that seek to address the many challenges facing today’s veterans in areas such as health care, employment, and education. The state Division of Veterans’ Affairs (www.veterans.ny.gov) was established in 1945 to assist veterans, members of the armed forces and their families. Since then, the division — in concert with its offices in counties locally and statewide — has strongly advocated for New York’s veterans and veterans’ issues at the local, state, and national levels. It is a proud history of service. 

Veterans Day, more than anything else, draws us to those monuments and memorials standing among us that still, and we hope always will, rise to never forget those who have served and sacrificed.

To all those who have served or are serving at this moment, Thank You.

May God Bless America, and May God Bless Our Troops.