Yesterday, Senator Reverend Warnock gave remarks and a closing prayer at a Veterans Day ceremony in Roswell, honoring the more than 690,000 Georgia heroes who have served our nation

Senator Reverend Warnock is a stalwart champion for Georgia veterans and has worked tirelessly in the Senate to improve the lives of veterans in the Peach State

Senator Reverend Warnock: “…I’m glad we passed the PACT Act on a bipartisan basis. We have a whole new generation of veterans who suffered in Afghanistan and stood up in Iraq, they were exposed to these burn pits. They came back sick. And the onus was on them to prove the connection between their service and their sickness. It’s not right; those who fight for us shouldn’t have to fight with us to get the benefits they deserve.”

WATCH: Senator Reverend Warnock gives closing remarks and prayer at Roswell Veterans Day event

Roswell, GA — Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) honored the more than 690,000 Georgia heroes who’ve served our nation at a Veterans Day ceremony in Roswell. Senator Warnock participated in the Roswell Veterans Day’s Honor Walk and closed the ceremony with remarks and a prayer. 

The son of a veteran and stalwart champion for Georgia veterans and military communities, Senator Warnock fought hard to pass the PACT Act, the largest expansion of veterans’ health benefits in decades. In September, Senator Warnock’s bipartisan Patient Advocate Tracker Act —legislation which will increase transparency and accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for veterans who report concerns they experience with VA health care services—was signed into law. The Senator also introduced legislation now signed into law to address disparities in access to VA benefits. Additionally, Senator Warnock introduced legislation to upgrade standards of care in veterans’ homes, and he has demanded action from the VA to address a mail pile-up at the Atlanta VA that persisted for over a year.

Key excerpts from Senator Reverend Warnock’s Veterans Day remarks below:

“Well, thank you so very much, Mayor Wilson. Great to be with you and be here in Roswell on this Veterans Day. Jesus said no greater love hath no one than this, the one who would lay down his life for his friends. We celebrate our veterans, the best among us and it’s only right.”

“One of the things that I admired about one of my predecessors who I got to know, and was a really good friend of mine, Johnny Isakson, was the way in which he always honored our veterans. And as he was getting ready to retire, he came to the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where I still preach, and he came with an offering for our veterans and he asked all the veterans in the church to stand. And I remember him remarking with admiration that he had been at many churches but he had not seen that percentage of veterans in one church.” 

“We celebrate our veterans and very quickly let me just say in my official capacity, my official capacity, that I’m glad we passed the PACT Act on a bipartisan basis. We have a whole new generation of veterans who suffered in Afghanistan and stood up in Iraq, they were exposed to these burn pits. They came back sick. And the onus was on them to prove the connection between their service and their sickness. It’s not right; those who fight for us shouldn’t have to fight with us to get the benefits they deserve.

“So we thank God for all of our veterans. As a son of a veteran, who I remember this day, my own father did not die in service, but he is a WWII veteran, I remember him and so many others.”

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