Friend, every Veterans Day, I think of my mom’s birth.

My mom was born on Friday, April 13, 1945 — in a Nazi concentration camp. She was liberated several days later, along with my grandmother, by U.S. soldiers. My mom is one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust.

American veterans saved my family. Without them, I wouldn’t be here today. In one generation, we went from a concentration camp to me working for Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Supreme Court, serving as an advisor to President Obama, serving as your attorney general, and now seeking to be your next governor.

This would not have happened without the courage of American GIs.

To those veterans who have fought for freedom, like those who saved my family, I have one thing to say: Thank you — from my family to yours, and from the bottom of my heart.

It is with this gratitude in mind, and my family’s history, that I have learned to never take our nation’s freedoms — or our democratic republic — for granted.

On this Veterans Day, please join me in expressing gratitude for the brave American service members who brought freedom to my grandmother and mother — and for those who have the courage to serve today.

With gratitude,

Phil