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When Bill Gray heard County Executive Isiah "Ike" Leggett would rename the Rockville Library in honor of military personnel killed or missing in action, he was relieved.

"Over the years the county has done minimal to honor veterans," Gray said. "Memorial Day, Veterans Day, that's about it."

Gray, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, is the chair of the county's Commission on Veterans Affairs, which made the recommendation to Leggett (D) that he rename the Rockville Library the Rockville Memorial Library.

Several families who had lost sons or husbands in Iraq or Afghanistan lobbied the commission, which Leggett formed in 2008, to rename the building in honor of fallen soldiers.

"The families really opened my eyes," Gray said. "One young widow was at the library with her son when they came to her house to tell her her husband had been killed."

Leggett, a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam conflict, said after getting the recommendation from the commission to rename the library, the choice was clear.

"There's a very large veteran population in the Washington, D.C., area and Montgomery County, and a significant number of people who have lost loved ones," he said. "We wanted to have an appropriate place where we could show the county's appreciation of that."

He and most Vietnam veterans received "virtually no recognition" of their service after returning home, he said.

"There was almost a condemnation of the soldiers," he said. "Others were despised. But the debt we owe to our veterans we can never repay."

Fred Bevanour, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in England between 1965 and 1968, said he was happy the county made the change.

"It's been a long time since I've been in the service, so I don't expect anything personally," he said. "But I was glad they did it."

Leggett said there will probably be other nods around the county to those who served, such as a veterans' plaza and an eternal flame near the county government center in Rockville, but the library will be the "most prominent."

He also said a formal announcement of the library's name change is forthcoming.

Leggett told members of the Commission on Veterans Affairs about his decision on Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day.

"I was happy we were able to come together as a group and say this is what we wanted to do," Gray said. "We presented it to the county executive and he decided that's what he wanted to do, too."

Rockville Councilwoman Anne M. Robbins, who describes herself as the daughter, wife and sister of veterans, said she was thrilled to hear about Leggett's announcement.

"I think it's a wonderful thing, and I salute Ike," she said.