Faces of Honor Helps U.S. Vets Move Forward in Life
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In towns across the country last Friday, children lined sidewalks waving small American flags, and adults stood in respect as our country’s honored veterans paraded slowly past. In some towns high school bands joined the parade with rousing renditions of Sousa marches. In others, veterans marched to the quiet but stirring sound of fife and drum. Somber ceremonies were held at stone memorials in village parks. Flags were unfurled into the breeze over silent rows of white crosses at national cemeteries. At some, the staccato sound of rifle shots rang out to salute those who died serving our country.
On Veterans Day, we pay tribute to our military veterans; we honor our dead; and we take a moment to thank the men and women who serve our country today. Then we go home and move on with our lives. For the many servicemen and servicewomen who return home from war injured or maimed, the memory of war doesn’t fade away the next morning. These brave men and women live with the price of war every day of their lives.
For those who suffered injury to their face or body during a battle or bomb attack, it is difficult if not impossible to put aside the horror of war and get one with their lives. Every time he or she looks in a mirror, a soldier who has suffered a facial injury is reminded of the very human price of war.
Faces of Honor is humanitarian program initiated by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Foundation in 2009 to provide free facial plastic surgery services to veterans who received face or neck injuries while deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Manhattan facial plastic surgeon Dr. Edward Kwak is honored to be an active participant in the Faces of Honor program.
