NATCHEZ — Veterans Day honors those that have lent or handed over their lives to protect America’s freedoms.

But a question Technical Sgt. Eric A. McMillan addressed at Thursday’s Veterans Day program at Copiah-Lincoln Community College was, “Why serve?”

McMillan said he often struggled to describe the reasons he chose a military career until his father, a U.S. Army veteran, worded it best.

“I do it so my friends and family don’t have to,” his father said.

A TV reporter asked McMillan’s father, Arthur David McMillan Jr., the “Why serve?” question a few years ago following a speech Eric’s father delivered on Memorial Day in McMillan’s hometown of Braxton.

McMillan was in the audience when his father responded to the very question he was often asked but always struggled to answer.

And when his father pointed to him when he gave his answer, McMillan was moved because of his father’s sacrifice and because he was able to put his reason for serving into words.

“I broke out in tears,” McMillan recounted to a crowd of more than 200 at the W.L. Nelson Multipurpose Room.

And when McMillan asked for his father’s wisdom again during a stressful time in his job as a U.S. Air Force recruiter, his father gave him another good reason why military members serve.

“If it was easy, everybody would do it,” the elder McMillan told his son.

“But because it’s hard, that’s what makes it great.”

McMillan held up folded paper and said he came to the program as its keynote speaker with a speech prepared, but addressing a crowd of veterans, students and city officials that was so packed some stood in the back, he decided to answer the question many in the room have probably grappled with themselves.

McMillan also left those who attended with a message, which he called a “charge.”

To the students, he asked them to find a veteran, talk with them, learn their stories and continue to pass them on to younger generations.

“Learn something from them,” he said.

He encouraged veterans to tell the stories of World War I veterans, as that generation dwindles.

U.S. Air Force Veteran Earl McManus attended the Co-Lin program for the first time and said he enjoyed McMillan’s talk.

“All of us veterans have different opinions (on why we serve), but we all try to serve with dignity,” McManus said.

Co-Lin is collecting items for veterans at the G. V. Sonny Montgomery Veterans Medical Center in Jackson and soliders overseas. Last year 30 boxes were filled.

Christmas cards written by students for soldiers and veterans addressed “Dear Veteran” or “Dear Soldier” will be also collected and mailed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Co-Lin’s American Flag Retirement Ceremony will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot near the bookstore.