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In Du Quoin, the keynoter was U.S. Marine and congressman Mike Bost of Murphysboro, who took the podium to the rousing strains of the Marine's Hymn.

He spoke of the first Veterans Day, or Armistice Day, as it was called 101 years ago, when people still held out hope that World War I truly would be the "war to end all wars."

Unfortunately, "there is an evil that arises in this world," occasionally that means men and women must still fight to maintain the nation's freedom, he said.

"Thank you for stepping forward and doing your job," he told the assemblage of veterans. "Some of you were drafted, some of you volunteered, but all of you served."

Bost said his congressional district, the 12th, has about 55,000 veterans currently living here -- the most of any congressional district in the nation. He said that while one reason for that might be Scott Air Force Base, he has another explanation, the respect for service that seems to be bred into every southern Illinois family.

"If you look around our communities, you can feel it," he said.