The folks at Durham’s Urban Ministries, one of the noblest of social-service agencies, know how to get your attention.

As the workday neared an end on Wednesday, Veteran’s Day, Urban Ministries sent out an unsettling e-mail. It’s not that what the agency was communicating was a revelation, but it was a jolting reminder of a fact that most of us, most of the time, don’t think about.

On Veterans Day, of all days, we needed to think about the cold facts, though.

Too many veterans make up the unfortunate ranks of the homeless, here and across the country.

This economic downturn has strained the abilities of all of our committed and overworked social-service providers — Urban Ministries, Durham Rescue Mission, TROSA, the county’s department of social services, just to name some of the most prominent.

But as we cope with veterans returning from the fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan, joining those of previous wars, we face the grim prospect that the stresses of combat and the difficulties of returning to the civilian economy are putting too many vets in dire straits.

Urban Ministries put it bluntly in its Veterans Day e-mail:

“On this Veterans Day, we honor and salute the millions of veterans across America for their sacrifices and service to our country. In this reflection, we must also recognize that there are veterans (who) desperately need our help.”

As a nation, we have long had a troubled relationship with our veterans. From the early days of the republic, when unpaid veterans desperately clamored for back pay and pensions, to the heartrending “bonus army” that marched on Washington in the Great Depression seeking early payment of meager pensions, we have at times valued their service more in rhetoric than in reality.

There have been, of course, exceptions, most notably the G. I. Bill and other benefits that helped the “greatest generation” reintegrate after the massive mobilization of World War II — and helped fuel unprecedented postwar prosperity.

But even today, the government’s massive Veterans Administration bureaucracy struggles to meet demand. Just this past week, the New York Times featured a page-one story that chronicled the efforts by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki — who holds a masters degree in English from Duke University and spoke here last month at a ceremony honoring Duke alumni who died in military service — to modernize and improve that chronically troubled agency’s services.

Here in Durham, the Urban Ministries folks remind us, veterans are suffering in our midst.

“We have seen an increasing number of veterans seeking shelter, food and supportive services,” the agency said in its Veterans Day e-mail. “In the fiscal year ended June 30, 314 veterans came to the Community Shelter, up 111 percent from the previous year.

“Of the 314, 29 were women, a 263 percent increase. Veterans accounted for 16 percent of all those sheltered during the same fiscal year.”

The picture is not without its bright spots.

The Urban Ministries e-mail went on to cite the success story of “Roland, a veteran and former guest of UMD.” UMD and other agencies worked together to help “Roland” move from the streets into an apartment at Maple Court, a complex of 24 apartments for homeless veterans “developed with the support of Volunteers for America.”

On the broader homelessness front — a front where Durham is engaged in major combat with its aggressive 10-Year-Plan to End Homelessness — there also are success stories.

Next Sunday, Duke Chapel and Housing for New Hope will host a program at the massive, inspiring chapel to honor three Durham residents who have, like “Roland,” made the transition from homelessness to permanent residences.

“Hearing the stories of these men and women who have overcome unimaginable obstacles is a powerful experience,” Gaston Warner, director of university and community relations at Duke Chapel, said in a Duke news release.

For all of our homeless neighbors, and especially for those whose military service may have contributed to their situation, we owe all of our best efforts to help them overcome those “unimaginable obstacles.”

Bob Ashley is editor of The Herald-Sun. Contact him at (919) 419-6678 or by e-mail at bashley@heraldsun.com.