PORT ANGELES — An Army veteran and former North Olympic Peninsula lawmaker, keynoting the region’s largest Veterans Day ceremony, recalled the Cold War as an unusual time for service members.

“We won a war without firing a shot,” said Jim Buck of Joyce.

“I can’t tell you what that means to us and the rest of the world today.”

Nearly 700 guests packed the helicopter hangar Tuesday at Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles for the 19th annual Veterans Day ceremony.

The ceremony, sponsored by the Clallam County Veterans Association, honored veterans from all five of the U.S. armed services and the Merchant Marine.

Former Capt. Buck served in the Army from 1971-76 in Germany and at a nuclear weapons facility in New York.

The West Point graduate later served as a Republican member of the state House of Representatives from 1995 to 2007.

During his talk Tuesday, Buck noted that he did not serve in combat but that veterans share a special bond that comes of their training and experiences while in the military.

“We go places we wouldn’t normally go, meet people we would never have met and learn all sorts of ridiculous acronyms,” he said.

He said loved ones — parents, spouses, children and friends — may offer love and support but never actually understand.

From the terrifying to the hilarious, veterans have tales to tell, whether they served in wartime or peacetime, Buck said.

The Cold War, 1947 to 1990, was a particularly unique time for service members, he said.

A recent trip revealed for him that American veterans from World War II are still revered in many parts of Europe today, Buck said.

He learned that Dutch families have adopted American soldiers’ graves at a cemetery in the Netherlands, and in France, veterans of D-Day in 1944 are treated with near reverence.

“I saw young families bring their babies out to see the World War II veteran across the street. People on the street would say, ‘Did you see the veteran?’ ” Buck recalled.

This year’s Veterans Day ceremony gave special recognition to Alta Corbett “Teta” Thomas of Sequim, who served in the U.S. Army Air Force as a Women’s Air Service Pilot — known as a WASP — during WWII.

Thomas, who was seated in the front row with family members in the expansive hangar, was one of 1,074 women who completed pilot training to perform military flight duties in the U.S.

The female pilots freed up male pilots to serve in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters of war.

But the WASPs were denied military veteran status until 1977, said Gary Velie, president of the Clallam County Veterans Association.

Velie presented Thomas with a bouquet of roses and a certificate from the veterans group.

“Thank you for your service and sacrifice,” he said.

The Coast Guard station was designated as a regional Veterans Day observance site for the 18th straight year by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

The station has been located on Ediz Hook for 89 years in various forms, noted the station’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Andrew Eriks.

“I have been to other Veterans Day ceremonies, but I have not seen anything like this in a small community,” he said.

This year also marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Vietnam War.

The unit has been designated a Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Commemorative Partner.

The ceremony included musical performances by the Port Angeles High School Band, the Sequim High School Select Choir, the Olympic Peninsula Men’s Gospel Signers and the Grand Olympics Chorus of Sweet Adelines International as well as bagpiper Thomas McCurdy.

A free veterans reception and barbecue, hosted by the American Legion Auxiliary Post 29 of Port Angeles, followed at the Clallam County Veterans Center in Port Angeles.

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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.