17,767 veterans call Sussex County home. This week belongs to them.
Watch: They answered the call
39 seconds, from Omaha Beach in 1944 to Fort Miles in Lewes to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. For the 17,767 veterans who call Sussex County home.
Photos: U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Victor J. Caputo · public domain · U.S. Army Signal Corps photo · public domain · Photo: Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0 · U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Nathan Winter · public domain · U.S. Army photo, The Old Guard · public domain · U.S. Air Force photo by Roland Balik · public domain · Delaware Air National Guard photo · public domain · Photo: Trendscope, CC BY 4.0
Two issues. One week. Every Sussex veteran.
Today is Part 1. Tuesday, the Marine Corps' 251st birthday, is Part 2. Here's what's in both.
Today · Part 1
- 17,767 veterans call Sussex County home. Here's how to thank them this week.
- Faces of Sussex service: a Purple Heart from Bien Hoa, a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a World War II vet who was in China on D-Day.
- A VA hospital is planned for Sussex. It's still years away. Where to go now.
- Veterans Day week: where to be and what's free.
- How Jill Hicks flipped District 5. She lost Election Day and won anyway.
- Milton moves to pause data centers. The hearing is Jan. 4.
- The 108th neighbor housed. A July 4 fire took everything. Here's who got them home.
Tuesday · Part 2
- Veterans Week, Part 2: the Veterans Day special edition is out now.
- Every Veterans Day ceremony we can confirm in Sussex, town by town, on one page.
- Eight veterans, one new trade. The Veterans Watchmaker Initiative class graduates Friday, Nov. 13.
- The groups that show up all year, and how you can show up with them.
- Veteran-owned Sussex. Local businesses run by people who served.
- Free on Veterans Day. Every offer checked with the business itself.
Tuesday is built from your stories. Tell us about your veteran, or send a name, a branch, a town and a few words to [email protected] by Monday at 5 p.m. Miss Monday and they miss Tuesday's edition.
Tell us about your veteran
A parent, grandparent, neighbor, coach or your town's veterans. Send their name, branch, when they served, their Sussex town, a few words and a photo if they're OK with it, by Monday, Nov. 9, at 5 p.m. Use the form, or email [email protected].
Tell us about your veteran →★Veterans Week · Part 1 of 2★
File photo · U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Nathan Winter · public domainFaces of Sussex service: ten local veterans whose service made the news
A Purple Heart from Bien Hoa, a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a World War II veteran who served in China on D-Day and a Post 17 Legionnaire who has filed more than 267 claims for his fellow vets.
U.S. Army photo, The Old Guard · public domain17,767 veterans call Sussex County home. This week belongs to them.
Veterans Day is Wednesday. About half of Sussex County's veterans served in the Vietnam era. Here's how to thank them this week, and where they can turn for help.
Poster by Jes Wilhelm Schlaikjer · public domainTell us about your veteran. We'll honor them in Tuesday's special edition.
Send us a name, a branch, a town and a few words by Monday at 5 p.m. Every Sussex veteran we can confirm gets a place in our Veterans Day edition.
Photo: Oregon State University, CC BY-SA 2.0Veterans Day week in Sussex: where to be, and what's free
Flags for Heroes and a Dover dinner on Wednesday, free garden days for veterans and a PlayStation giveaway from Colonial PVA.
File photo · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo · public domainWhere Sussex veterans can get help, close to home
Health care, free counseling, benefits help and your local post. You don't have to drive to Wilmington for everything.
Photo: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0The groups that show up for Sussex veterans all year
From a free beach week for military families in Bethany to wreaths in Millsboro and Marine veterans marking the Corps' 251st, here's who's doing the work and how to help.
Delaware Air National Guard photo · public domainDelaware now has a Department of Veterans Affairs. Here's what it means for Sussex veterans.
The state's first veterans secretary, retired Brig. Gen. Karen Berry, took office in October 2025 at the Delaware Veterans Home in Milford.
File photo · Photo: RightCowLeftCoast, CC BY 4.0A VA hospital is planned for Sussex County. It is still years away.
Until then, the Georgetown clinic and Vet Center are the closest VA care for most Sussex veterans.
File photo · Photo: Ktkvtsh, CC BY 4.0Wreaths Across America returns to the Millsboro veterans cemetery Dec. 19. Sponsors are needed.
Wreaths 4 Millsboro has about 30% of the wreaths it needs for the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
★Election 2026★
Photo: Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0Jill Hicks unseats John Rieley in District 5. Doug Hudson holds District 4.
Early votes carried Hicks. Election Day votes went to Rieley, but not by enough. All results are unofficial until the state certifies them.
File photo · Photo: Phil Roeder from Des Moines, IA, USA, CC BY 2.0In the sheriff's race, 52% of Sussex votes came before Election Day
In the countywide sheriff's race, 47% of votes came during early voting and 5% by absentee ballot. Election Day was 48%. Statewide turnout was 47.49%.
Photo: Adavyd, CC BY-SA 3.0Sussex legislative races: the unofficial results
The state Senate and House races in Sussex County districts, plus Return Day on The Circle.
★Your town★
File photo · National Park Service photo · public domainDagsboro proposes higher building permit fees. The hearing is Dec. 21.
The town says it loses money on each permit it processes, and the fees haven't been reviewed in more than a decade.
File photo · Photo: PiDatacenters, CC BY-SA 4.0Milton moves toward a two-year pause on data centers
Council chose a moratorium over an outright ban. A public hearing is set for Monday, Jan. 4, 2027.
File photo · Photo: L Maule, CC BY-SA 4.0Garrison Homes opens a Millville office
The custom builder cut the ribbon Nov. 4 with the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce.
Photo: Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0Sussex County offices close Wednesday for Veterans Day
County government offices reopen Thursday, Nov. 12.
★Community★
File photo · Photo: Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0A family of six lost their home to a July 4 fire. Love INC just helped them become its 108th neighbor housed.
The Seaford nonprofit wants 300 new monthly supporters by the holidays.
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★The week ahead★
Photo: Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0The week ahead in Sussex: a holiday market, a bonfire night and sun through Veterans Day
What's happening Nov. 8 to 14, and a forecast of highs from 61 to 65 until rain chances return Thursday.
★From the editor★
Two veterans issues, on purpose
This week The Sussex Ledger publishes two editions built around veterans: this one, and a special edition Tuesday, the day before Veterans Day.
We said when we started that every issue would carry a piece for veterans, no exceptions. Veterans Week deserves more than one piece. Sussex County is home to 17,767 men and women who served, from World War II to the post-9/11 generation, and a lot of them are still serving their towns as volunteers, coaches, firefighters and council members.
So today you'll find where to honor them this week and where they can get help close to home. On Tuesday, our Veterans Day special edition, Veterans Week, Part 2, lists every Veterans Day ceremony we could confirm in Sussex.
If you served: thank you. If you know someone who did, forward this to them.
C.L. Rosslyn
Editor in Chief, The Sussex Ledger