The stories in our annual Salute to Veterans help connect us all with people who have served their country

In 1990, I was working for a little weekly newspaper in Laughlin, Nevada named — and I am not making this up — The Laughlin Gambler.

A reader called in and notified us that there was going to be a reunion of Pearl Harbor survivors meeting at one of the casinos in town and inquired as to whether the newspaper would be interested in covering that event.

I’ve always been an avid fan of history, so I relished the opportunity to talk to the group of veterans. As it turned out, only one of the veterans in the group was at Pearl Harbor on that fateful day, Dec. 7, 1941. Nonetheless, I interviewed the veteran and wove his recollections around facts about the attack that I researched from the local library (these were the days before the internet was readily available).

We ran the story with a black-and-white photo of the group of veterans, and I moved on to other assignments.

Since then, I’ve edited dozens — if not hundreds — more stories about veterans and their experiences. Of course, every veteran has a different story, but all are compelling in their way. The man I met in 1990 recalled the chaos and terror of the attack that led to the United States declaring war and officially entering World War II. Some veterans have told stories of how their service changed their lives for the better, while others recall trauma that they continue to deal with to this very day.