Some ambled, others, aided by canes, marched slower to the cadence of the Georgia Army National Guard band greeting visitors to Sandy Springs' Veterans Day Tribute Friday morning at Morgan Falls Overlook Park.
Surveying the crowd of roughly 225, Navy veteran Jim Masak of Sandy Springs was pleased.
"It seems it's finally sinking into people that we've done something good for the country," said Masak, 79. The second annual Sandy Springs ceremony was one of a number taking place throughout the metro area.
Masak, who served in Korea, said he and his wife attend the Memorial Day ceremony in Marietta each year, and he has noticed crowds getting bigger.
That was heartening to Les Carter of Stone Mountain, one of four 1947-48 West Point graduates in attendance. Carter, who served in the Air Force, said he thinks these ceremonies provide veterans and civilians a chance to meet with one purpose: to make sure veterans' service isn't forgotten.
Classmate Irving Schoenberg of Dunwoody agreed.
"Everybody should serve their country in one capacity or another, whether in the military or some other way," said Schoenberg, who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. "Serve your country, because then you'll appreciate what this country's all about."
The theme of the event went beyond recognition of military service.
Army Sgt. Jarrad Turner of Atlanta, who was wounded in a 15-foot fall during a battle in Iraq in 2006 while serving as a medic, said veterans need more than parades. Some need assistance, particularly those suffering physical and mental trauma.
"Georgia deploys approximately 20,000-30,000 service members who will be returning to this area," said Turner, veteran medical service coordinator for the Veterans Health Administration in metro Atlanta. "They're going to need help. The Veterans Administration is overwhelmed."
Turner spoke on behalf of the SHARE Initiative at Atlanta's Shepherd Center, which assesses and treats service members who have sustained a mild to moderate traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. The program, he said, helped lead him and his family on a path back to recovery.
Keynote speaker Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, who is retired, echoed that theme, adding that Americans owe veterans more than department store sales and time off from work.
"One must ask today sometimes whether we ... correctly recognize the immense sacrifice that our veterans have made to this great nation so that we can achieve the great things in peace, the wonderful standard of living we all enjoy," he said.
As the ceremony concluded and the crowds filed out, Shane Allender, a 64-year-old Vietnam veteran, smiled.
"As you can tell from the crowd, we have a lot of vets in Sandy Springs," he said. "It's nice to have the recognition."
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