All sorts of historic documents will be brought out in recognition of Veterans Day, however it would be difficult to find one that is more appropriate than the one that was written by President Abraham Lincoln when he spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Penn. on Nov. 19, 1863.From July 1-3, 1863, more than 170,000 Americans fought on this ground.More than 7,500 of them never left the field alive.As Lincoln observed, however, what was to be honored at Gettysburg went far beyond those 7,500 lives.It even went beyond the 600,000 lives that were lost in that horrible Civil War.Lincoln was speaking to the ages about the cost of preserving our liberty and our Union, both of which continue at risk in our time.One of their safeguards — though not the only one — is recognized today, as our nation honors veterans of military service.And so Lincoln’s immortal words are relevant.Here they are”Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war.