Gerald Greer shuffles his feet to move the wheelchair down the hall at the Fort Thomas Nursing Home-Domiciliary for veterans. An American flag, tucked in a corner near the handle, gently flutters.

        Parkinson's disease fogs Roger Schutte's memory of three years in a German prison camp, and he has a hard time answering some questions. But the 82-year-old man holds a flag in his hand, telling a visitor, “I sure was happy to serve under it. Boy, was I.”

        In these days of a new war with a different kind of enemy, representatives from the United Auto Workers and the Ford Motor Co. in Sharonville went to the nursing home Saturday to honor the aging veterans. The UAW-Ford group handed out 70 flags and listened to old war stories as part of national Make a Difference Day.

        Sponsored by USA Weekend magazine, the fourth Saturday in October is set aside for neighbors to help neighbors. Last year, 2.2 million people volunteered throughout the country on Make a Difference Day. This year, across the Tristate, volunteers gave books to kindergartners, refurbished a playground for disabled kids and collected pennies for peace.

        At Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in the West End, about 50 College of Mount St. Joseph graduates, students and family members for the third year spent the day sprucing up the school. They planted mums, lilac bushes and some prickly Hen and Chickens plants outside the school; removed old books and installed new steel shelves in the library; and painted a hallway and bathroom, among other efforts.

        “We are truly, truly grateful, thankful, blessed that these people are giving up their Saturday,” says Andrea Martinez, a school board member at the academy.

        At the veterans' home in Fort Thomas, B.F. Penick, 84, unbuttons his shirt. The “B” stands for Buford, but nobody's used that for 50 years. Everybody calls him “Chief.”

        On his chest, an American eagle spans shoulder to shoulder. On his back, a half-moon of a tattoo surrounds the discolored skin of a scar.

        Melanoma, he explains, from being too close to atomic bomb testing in the Pacific.

        Mr. Penick served 30 years in the Navy, fighting enemies during World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

        He delights the visitors from UAW-Ford with stories of battles and bar fights. Mr. Penick has a flag poster on his door, a teddy bear holding Old Glory in a paw and a Navy blanket draped over his bed, but he can always use another flag. It means everything to him, he says. Other than God, there's nothing higher.

        Delivering the flag was a “nice, noble thing,” Mr. Penick says. “I thought the only people thinking about me was my wife and kids.”

        The UAW-Ford volunteers wanted to help others on Make a Difference Day and signed up for the project, which was coordinated by Family Service and Learning Center, a joint venture with Ford and UAW to offer employees volunteer opportunities.

        The group didn't realize the day also would make a difference in their lives.

        Dave Johnson, one of the volunteers, is a husky guy, the kind who doesn't easily cry. Yet his voice trembles, and a few tears land on his beard.

        “It's such an honor to shake the hand of these guys,” says Mr. Johnson, 40, of Hamilton. “To see a guy like (Mr. Schutte). ... What a hero.”

        Susan Vela contributed to this report.

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