It would be nice if our commemorations of war dead on Veterans’ Day were more of a historical observance — a remembrance of those who served and sacrificed in wars few people recall firsthand. But this year, when veterans gathered November 11 to honor comrades-at-arms who fought and did not return, there were young faces in with the aging and elderly vets of the great 20th Century wars.

Aging does not soften the sorrow and trauma of war, and the young men and women who serve so ably in our current open-ended, ill-defined war on  terrorism are facing a lifetime of remembering scenes and experiences that every human life should be spared. The comfort that veterans find in each other’s company arises from a silent acknowledgement of a shared experience that can never be adequately described to “those who were not there.” So for the support it gives our vets, we wish every day could be Veterans’ Day. Sadly, the reality is that veterans are too often left with little or no support in a society that thrives under the protection of their service.

Connecticut does not have as many veterans as it used to. The Northeast has the country’s biggest share of living World War II vets and the smallest share of Vietnam and Persian Gulf War vets. Young people in the Northeast have a lower rate of enlistment than in some other parts of the country, and if they do enlist and serve, they often move to less expensive parts of the country after they leave the service. And WWII veterans, now in their 80s and 90s, are dying off quickly. Census data shows that the number of veterans in Connecticut declined by more than 17 percent in the 1990s.

In the midst of this decline, however, there is one veteran population statistic that is increasing: the number of homeless vets in the state. A report released earlier this month by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, based in Washington, DC, showed that the number of homeless veterans in the state increased from 4,675 to 5,000 over the past two years. Nationally, one of every four homeless persons is a veteran. This is a disgrace in a country that places such a premium on patriotism and the honor of military service.

The state legislature’s Veterans Affairs Committee is preparing a package of enhanced benefits for Connecticut vets for consideration by lawmakers when the 2008 legislative session convenes in Hartford on February 6. These proposals will attempt to help those vets who have fallen through the sizable cracks in federal programs that are underfunded and unevenly administered. The committee wants to expand the state’s college tuition waver program to include graduate programs, to waive all student fees for men and women in the National Guard, to extend property tax exemptions for veterans with 90 days or more of wartime service, to fund loans for veteran-owned businesses, and to direct assistance to the 5,000 homeless veterans.

We need to back up the honors we express on Veterans’ Day with deeds. Military men and women are not the only ones with an obligation to serve the nation. Part of our duty to this country as civilians — as “those who were not there” — will go unfulfilled until the last homeless veteran comes in from the cold.