Veterans Day is a time for the community to honor those who fought and continue to fight for our country.
For one veteran in Austin, Texas it's a reminder of how lucky he is.
"I got assigned to a machine gun squad," Army veteran Don Morrison says.
It didn't take long after enlisting in the Army, 73 years ago, before he took a hit.
"He says, I'll tell you what's the matter, you've got bad frostbite. That's when the found out I had the mumps," Morrison says.
That was in Germany, in 1944 during World War Two. Morrison was only 18 years old.
"For five weeks I didn't have to be on the front lines," he says.
When he was healthy enough, it was back to the battlefield.
"And that's when that other one came in it went across my face that shrapnel and it hit here of course and knocked me out," Morrison recalls.
Fellow soldiers left him, assuming Morrison died.
But he says "the hand of God" intervened.
Shrapnel destined for Morrison's heart was blocked by the bible he carried in his pocket.
"Had it not been there, there was nothing else stopping it, only bones," Morrison says.
And like a true soldier, he got up and kept fighting with God on his side in the trenches.
"I said I need to be here with the rest of ya. I got a job to do," Morrison said.