Veterans Day, however, should also be a day for citizens to recommit the United States to fulfilling the most fundamental responsibilities to our veterans. A grateful nation finds many ways to honor its veterans: parades each Memorial Day and Veterans Day that remind young and old of the full meaning of those holidays, a G.I. Bill that put higher education within reach for millions who served and assistance that enables veterans to buy a first home without a down payment. From the haunting scroll of lives lost recorded on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the Korean War Memorial's tribute to over 1 million American soldiers who served honorably in a war that must never be forgotten, monuments are erected to remind us of the high cost our nation paid for freedom.

Still, there is much more that can and should be done to make a difference in the lives of veterans who are still with us. From the Bonus Army marching on Washington, D.C., and World War II veterans who waited a half century to be awarded their high school diplomas to soldiers who demanded recognition of Gulf War Syndrome from those eager to remember only a victory in the Middle East, veterans of all wars have had to fight too hard for basic services owed to them.

Even today, when it comes to perhaps the most meaningful promise ever made to our veterans - the promise of high-quality health care on demand - reality still falls short of rhetoric. While Americans keep Tom Brokaw's series of books on ``The Greatest Generation'' atop the bestseller lists, veterans of that same era are competing against one another for beds in our hospital wards. The impact of year after year of level funding or cuts in V.A. hospital budgets are taking a huge toll on our ability to care for our parents and grandparents.

In recent years, under a consolidation of services federal bureaucrats called modernization, more than 400 beds have been cut from veterans' medical centers and hospitals in Massachusetts alone. In mental health services, psychiatrists are spread too thin, told to expect patient-to-doctor ratios of hundreds to one. Where is the outrage that a nation whose citizens spend billions of dollars each year on cosmetic surgery would turn its backs on decent health care for those who gave so much to our country?

One of the most important benefits our nation offers veterans remains one of which very few take advantage, prescription drug coverage. Every honorably discharged veteran is eligible to receive all prescription medication through the Department of Veterans Affairs, at a cost of $2 or less per perscription, depending upon income.

Still, in a country where in popular culture and politics we often talk about our veterans, it seems we haven't talked enough to our veterans about this benefit.

Less than 20 percent of our veterans in Massachusetts are using the V.A. Last winter I met a waitress who told me she had to work a second job just so that her father - a Korean War veteran - could afford his prescription medication. After looking into her case we discovered that her father had been eligible for the V.A. prescription drug program all along. I am convinced there are thousands of similar stories.

We need to change that trend not only because so many of our veterans are needlessly struggling to buy prescription drugs, but because as the number of veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs medical system increases, even if only for annual appointments and prescription medication, so does our ability in Congress to fight for adequate investments in veterans' health care. With so many veterans retiring and moving south and west, veterans' health care in New England has been the hardest hit over the last five years.

Reaching out today to a father, grandfather, aunt or next door neighbor who is a veteran, visiting a VFW Hall or a senior center and reminding them of the services offered by the V.A. is one of the most meaningful ways citizens can honor the contributions veterans have made.

America should celebrate and honor the victories of our fighting forces and we should recommit ourselves to the guarantee that those who spent many of their best years risking their lives for their country should not spend the rest of their years at risk of falling short of receiving the best health care our nation has to offer.

John F. Kerry is a U.S. senator from Massachusetts and a Vietnam War veteran.