This week marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an event which would lead to the United States of America mobilizing the full force of her manpower and industrial might against the forces of fascism in both the Pacific and in Europe.

After victory was achieved over Germany and Japan in 1945, the process of demobilization began and thousands of American soldiers returned home from overseas to find work, resume their everyday lives and be afforded the opportunity to gain an education through government benefits.

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the G.I. Bill, has proved the template and gold standard for how America’s fighting men and women would be rewarded for their service. In this contemporary era of cutbacks and austerity, we believe it is of the utmost importance not to neglect the promises we as a nation have given our women and men in uniform.

In 2008, the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, proposed by current Virginia Senator and former Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb, expanded benefits to veterans, such as increased support for housing, tuition and support for veterans attending prestigious private schools via the “Yellow Ribbon” program.

While some may disagree with how our Armed Forces are used as tools of American foreign policy overseas, we strongly believe those men and women in our Armed Forces who signed up with the understanding they would receive benefits after a period of honorable service are fully entitled to such benefits.

We urge that as more of our men and women return from deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, all efforts are made by the government to allow them to secure employment through receiving training from America’s world-class system of public higher education.

This need to support veterans’ benefits becomes especially important considering the latest series of tuition hikes the California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees forced upon us.

With these hikes in tuition, along with severe budget cuts across the CSU system, the budget for veteran students is among the first places where cuts will be made. We advocate for a fair use of educational money, and we especially wish aid to our service women and men will not be affected.

They sacrificed for us and they continue to honor us with their service, we can’t let them down now.

While the inability of the electorate of California to vote for supporters of higher education is one issue, we can at least ensure that those men and women who have done their duty to their country in the Armed Forces can at the very least be provided a reliable source of aid through veterans’ benefits.

As members of this university community, with over 6,000 veteran students enrolled in the CSU system, according to the CSU, it is our duty to keep their needs in mind, just as they have kept our freedom in mind.

We all should bear in mind the growth of American industry in the 1950s can be traced to the entry into the workforce of thousands of educated veterans; educating our veterans of the War on Terror can have much the same effect on our ailing economy if such veterans are allowed to fully use the benefits promised to them.

So let us not forget our veterans as they have not forgotten us. As their needs rise, let us meet them to the fullest extent possible so they may share in the “American Dream” they have protected for us.