With 23 million U.S. veterans living today, and about 2.8 million active and reserved personnel in the Armed Forces, Veterans Day is an important holiday, social studies teacher Dan Eyestone said Wednesday.“Veterans Day is an opportunity to pause and reflect on how blessed we are in the United States of America,” Eyestone said at a patriotic assembly at Great Bend High School. As a result of the sacrifices of men and women in uniform, he said, “America’s freedoms and liberties remain ours to control.”The entire student body – about 900 teenagers – attended the assembly in the GBHS gymnasium. Local veterans were invited, and Great Bend’s American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Legion Riders members were in attendance and carried American flags.