WASHINGTON — For Veterans Day, some people believe the nation’s gratitude should extend to more than those who put on uniforms.

Wednesday is Veterans Day, and some spouses of veterans say they are feeling left out.

“Oh, definitely,” says Judi VanCleave. “And families. Our children, also.”

VanCleave is national president of Gold Star Wives, an organization for widows whose husbands were in the military. She says military families don’t always get the respect they deserve, which is something she says is evident in the disparity in survivor’s benefits.

Dependency compensation, VanCleave says, is less in comparison to what’s offered to government retirees and employees. “We are shortchanged $300 or so a month,” says VanCleave. “That can go a long ways when you’re supporting a household.”

She says military families deserve more.

“You have no idea who much it means. How that makes a survivor feel that someone acknowledges that you exist.”