SALISBURY — Faris Rogers doesn’t know who brings the wreath to Rockwell Park. He just wants the person to know it’s appreciated.

Twice previously — on July Fourth and Labor Day — Rogers and his grandmother have gone to place flowers and flags around the park’s memorial for Lance Cpl. Nathan Elrod when they have noticed a handsome wreath already in place. It happened again Tuesday for Veterans Day.

“It’s definitely the same wreath each time,” Rogers said.

The gesture means a lot to Rogers, whose Eagle project this past year led to the installation of the memorial and its community dedication June 1.

Elrod was a Marine gunner from Rockwell who was killed in Iraq Oct. 21, 2006, when the Humvee he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device. Rogers raised the thousands of dollars needed for the bronze memorial — composed of a helmet, assault rifle and boots. It includes an inscription for Elrod and all the others who have given their lives for the country.

A high school senior, Rogers wanted Elrod’s family to know the community was grateful for his service and ultimate sacrifice. To Rogers, the memorial also was meant as a reminder that our freedom isn’t free.

As secretly as the wreath appears, it will disappear in the same fashion later.

Another Veterans Day has come and gone. We took note of it as we usually do, with a day off from work and school, a few ceremonies with flags and speeches, lots of old military pictures of our parents and grandparents on Facebook and parades at the Hefner VA Medical Center and down Main Street.

Prior to the downtown parade, I walked up to the Square on the gorgeous, 70-degree afternoon and waited to see the high school bands, the Junior ROTC programs, Scout troops, beauty queens, politicians, Army Jeeps, law enforcement and, of course, the veterans.

The veterans I often talk to for the newspaper are older ladies and gentlemen who take me back to the days when they were scared kids, just out of high school, leaving home to serve in places they had never heard of.

For many of those boys and girls, it might have been the first time they had been out of the state or country, their first time on the ocean or in the air and definitely the first time they shot at another person, meaning to kill them.

They found themselves in camps, foxholes, ships, transport trucks, tanks, bombers and cargo planes with strangers from all over the country. Everyone talked funny, but it was amazing how fast friends were made. When these men and women came back home and returned to civilian life, no matter what kind of action they saw, they surely had to be different.

I thought of these things again last Saturday night when Thelma Luckey, a retired staff sergeant of the 846th Transportation Co., and her restaurant, Thelma’s Down Home Country Cooking, held an Veterans Appreciation Dinner in the former JC Penney store of the Salisbury Mall.

Luckey opens her restaurant every Tuesday morning for veterans to have a free cup of coffee and maybe a doughnut. It’s called the Frontier Coffee Shoppe and is a direct outgrowth, thanks to Tom Harrell, of the free coffee for veterans offered at Richard’s Coffee Shop in Mooresville every Thursday morning.

By most accounts, Thelma’s Saturday night affair drew some 800 veterans — there are an estimated 12,000 to 13,000 in Rowan County. They were treated to delicious food and drink and songs from the Salisbury Swing Band. There were some speeches, too, but the dinner was pretty laid-back and mostly meant just to say thanks to those who have served or are serving now.

Veterans such as Luckey never seem to quit serving, and I see evidence of it everywhere. The Rowan County Honor Guard always stands at the ready to perform military rites at funerals for veterans.

Members of the American Legion keep our summer baseball programs going. The Legion, VFW, AMVETS and DAV are posts and organizations of veterans for veterans. Many veterans work at the VA Medical Center and dedicate themselves to improving the quality of life for others who have served the country. The Patriot Riders do their part.

The spirit of service became imbedded in many of these men and women we call veterans and never let go. Yes, we appreciate their service in fighting and defending our freedom. We probably under-appreciate what they’ve done back home in serving us again.

There’s a reason the mysterious wreath shows up now and then at the memorial to Lance Cpl. Nathan Elrod. It’s a way of saying thanks, knowing we never do it enough.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mark.wineka@salisburypost.com.