If you’re a veteran, someone has paid for your drink at the Starbucks in Tacoma’s Proctor District today.

Someone who wishes to remain anonymous dropped by the store at the corner of North 26th and Proctor streets this morning and handed a barista a prepaid Starbucks card. Any drink a veteran wants, he said, he or she can get it for free. Doesn’t matter if it’s a drip coffee or a Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino blended coffee with Chocolate Whipped Cream.

There’s a sign at each register asking customers to tell the baristas if they’re veterans. It’s on the honor system.

“They’re usually overwhelmingly touched and honored,” said one barista, who didn’t give her name because she wasn’t authorized by the corporate office to speak to reporters. “And others added to the card when they heard about what was going on. They’ve paid it forward.”

Tacoma Public Utilities will receive the Pro Patria award, the Department of Defense’s highest state-level honor for employers, on Wednesday evening.

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve gives three or fewer Pro Patria awards in each state each year. The recipient “demonstrates exceptional support for our national defense by adopting personnel policies that make it easier for employees to participate in the National Guard and Reserve,” according to a press release.

Five Tacoma Power employees will also receive the Patriot Award for supporting a co-worker during his deployment to Iraq. University Place’s Sgt. Robert Bennett, a line worker and a Black Hawk crew chief with the Guard’s 66th Theater Aviation Command, was deployed from April 2007 to August 2008.

The awards will be distributed at 6:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Public Utilities auditorium at 3628 S. 35th St.

The 1st Special Forces Group memorial wall at Fort Lewis is a granite testament to the members of the elite unit of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the United States.

During a sunrise Veterans Day ceremony, the Green Berets unveiled the 163rd name on the wall: Staff Sgt. David Textor of Company A, 3rd Battalion, who was killed July 15 in Mosul, Iraq, during combat operations.

“These are our hallowed heroes,” group commander Col. Rand Binford said Tuesday. “This is a pantheon of men who came before us, who served before us, who gave the ultimate sacrifice. We will not forget.”

About 300 soldiers stood at attention in the steady drizzle as Binford and others honored Textor and his family. The ceremony was simple but solemn. After a playing of the national anthem and a prayer, Binford praised both Textor and all veterans for their service.

“From the fields and forest of war-torn Europe during the first and second world wars and the jungles of Southeast Asia to the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, brave patriots have protected our nation’s ideals, rescued millions from tyranny and helped spread freedom around the globe,” he said.

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Pick up any newspaper across the country today, and chances are the main front-page story will be a profile of a veteran. After all, Veterans Day is just one of those holidays that necessitates a story each year.

We chose to write about James Clark, a Shelton resident who first enlisted in the Army at age 13 to serve during World War II. Others focused on veterans from Vietnam, Iraq and other conflicts. In no particular order, here is a sample of profiles from newspapers across the state (articles ran today unless noted otherwise):

For local Iraq vet and his mom, the healing never ends (Seattle Times, Sunday)

Housing vouchers help bring vets home (Seattle P-I)

Exposed in the service (Spokesman-Review)

Veterans honored on Capitol Campus (The Olympian)

Tri-City veterans tell stories (Tri-City Herald)

Decorated war vet “a true leader” (The Daily World)

Bellingham man in historic WWII photo with Gen. MacArthur (Bellingham Herald)

Students honor those who served our country (The Herald)

Veterans Day special: Medal of Honor recipients from the North Olympic Peninsula (Peninsula Daily News)

Military might: Training Center one of Yakima County's biggest employers¹ (Yakima Herald-Republic, Monday)

^{1 – Not a Vets Day story per se, but interesting nonetheless.}