WASHINGTON -- Members of the Arkansas congressional delegation are paying tribute to veterans this week in the nation's cathedral and in their home state.
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton gave the keynote speech Tuesday at the National Cathedral's Interfaith Prayer Breakfast. He told the crowd that the United States has been "a shining beacon of justice for the world" and that those who fight in its defense will "inspire the just and terrify the wicked."
Cotton, who served with the 101st Airborne, completed combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He also was part of The Old Guard at Arlington, the unit that appears at military and state funerals.
Tuesday's event, held in the marble-floored nave of the cathedral, featured prayers by Jewish, Christian and Muslim clergymen and patriotic music sung by men and women in uniform.
Veterans Day, which is known in some countries as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, takes place every Nov. 11, the anniversary of the signing of the agreement to end hostilities on the Western Front of World War I.
Woodrow Wilson, president during that conflict, is buried in the cathedral.
Standing beneath stained-glass windows and surrounded by towering Indiana limestone columns, Cotton referred to the bloody conflict that was known, for a time, as the Great War or the War to End All Wars.
"In an ugly world, full of injustice and war, America is the noblest of things. There is no more certain trumpet than the justice of America's creed, and our troops are thankfully prepared for the battle," Cotton said. "We are grateful to them, as we are grateful to all our veterans on this Veterans Day -- a day marking not a war they started, but the Great War they ended."
Kenny George, a veteran from Dardanelle, attended the breakfast at Cotton's invitation and gave the senator high marks.
"He gives a great speech," George said.
Cotton planned to visit Arlington National Cemetery and to visit the Vietnam War Memorial today with his father, Len Cotton, a veteran who served in the 4th Infantry Division during the war.
Other members of the all-Republican delegation planned to spend the day in Arkansas.
• U.S. Sen. John Boozman is scheduled to visit with patients at the Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center in North Little Rock at 9 a.m. before heading to the Central Arkansas Veterans Day Ceremony. The 11 a.m. tribute, at the Laman Library plaza, 2801 Orange St. in North Little Rock, will be attended by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, U.S. Rep. French Hill and other dignitaries.
• Hill also was scheduled to speak during a veterans day program at the Christ the King School this afternoon.
• U.S. Rep. Steve Womack will mark the day with students at Russellville High School this morning and at Heritage High School in Rogers this afternoon. At 4 p.m., he'll attend the dedication of a veterans memorial park at 500 Veterans Parkway in Rogers.
• U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman planned to attend a ceremony at 10 a.m. in Woodland Auditorium, at 1101 DeSoto Blvd., in Hot Springs Village. He was to speak later in the day during an assembly at Murfreesboro High School.
• U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford didn't have any public events listed on Veterans Day. But he spoke at a Mountain View ceremony Friday, participated in the Craighead County Veterans Day Parade on Saturday and attended a veterans appreciation dinner in Mountain Home on Monday.
Metro on 11/11/2015