The University of Miami ROTC Color Guard opened the Veterans Day Tribute with the presentation of the colors.

When Nick Lamis returned to the United States in 1970 after a tour of duty in Vietnam, there were no crowds of people waving American flags and holding “Welcome Home” signs. No yellow ribbons adorning the airport arrival gates. No bands playing patriotic music. Only his wife and three small kids to greet him.

Lamis, who flew combat missions in Vietnam after earning an accounting degree from the University of Miami in 1963 as an Air Force ROTC cadet, found himself fighting a second war at home: ostracism from some segments of American society. Read the full story

Tuskegee Airman Leo R. Gray flew 15 combat mission during World War II.

Too young to know about the famed Tuskegee Airmen, 7-year-old Trinity couldn’t quite grasp the significance of Lieutenant Colonel Leo R. Gray’s service to his country. Still, the youngster pressed forward amid the small gathering of people that had surrounded Gray and reached out her hand, thanking him for his World War II enlistment.

Trinity, along with three of her siblings and their grandmother Lizabeth Doebler, were among the approximately 200 people who assembled on the University of Miami’s Coral Gables campus on November 11 for a Veterans Day ceremony to honor the men and women—both living and deceased—who have defended the nation against enemies. Read the full story