On Monday, May 30th we will all have a day of remembrance for those who have served, died and sacrificed for the sake of freedom & liberty.
Not only am I a Realtor, I am a veteran and an American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars member. I currently serve as Commander of our local post, the Georgetown Rene J. Gagnon American Legion Post #211.
If you don't mind I would like to share my speech.
Memorial Day 2016
Good Morning Ladies & Gentlemen,
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7608 and the Rene J Gagnon American Legion Post 211 welcome you on this somber day for the remembrance of those, and their families, who paid the ultimate sacrifice. This is a day of remembrance for all those who served.
I know we have veterans in the audience. Please raise your hands. Please come and stand with your fellow veterans.
If there are any Blue Star families in the audience please raise your hands. Please come forward and stand with us. A Blue Star family is a family that has a member of the family serving in the Armed Forces of the United States during any period of war or hostilities in which the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged. 1 Blue Star for each family member serving.
Are there any Gold Star families with us. Please come forward and stand with us. A Gold Star family has a family member(s) that died during service. 1 Gold Star for each family member who died while serving.
We must understand, in war, there is collateral damage. I was recently speaking with a person who shared with me the story of a 95-year-old veteran that was still having nightmares about the war! Many of us know fellow veterans still living the horrors of war.
Homelessness among veterans is a problem. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs states, “the nation’s homeless veterans are predominantly male, with roughly 9% being female. About 11% of the adult homeless population are veterans. They suffer from mental illness, alcohol, and/or substance abuse, or co-occurring disorders.”
To make matters worse there are reports that upwards of 22 veterans per day commit suicide! There is an expression that can be applied to any war by inserting the name of the war. “Not everyone who gave their life in Vietnam died there. Not everyone who came home from Vietnam ever left there.” Think about that.
Today we will we will ask you to do something. It’s simple, easy and will only take a minute of your time. After this ceremony has ended and you all go home and do whatever you do on Memorial Day, at 3:00 p.m. STOP whatever you are doing and participate in the National Moment of Remembrance which was established by Congress and asks Americans, wherever they are at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day, to pause in an act of national unity for a duration of one minute. The time 3 p.m. was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday. It is an act in which all Americans, alone or with family and friends, honor those who died in service to the United States.
I am going to close with excerpts of President Ronald Reagan’s 1st Inaugural Address -- January 20, 1981— President Reagan said,
“If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price…” He continues,
“To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale.”
“Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes -- they just don’t know where to look.”
“The sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery, with its row upon row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.”
“Each one of those markers is a monument to the kind of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno, and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.”
“Under one such marker lies a young man, Martin Treptow, who left his job in a small town barbershop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.”
“We’re told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, “My Pledge,” he had written these words: “America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”
“On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, “Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. On you depends the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.”
Ladies and gentlemen, our country is in danger. It is up to each of us to shoulder the duty for present and future generations. It is ours to pass on.
Back to President Reagan. He went on to say;
“We must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.”
“As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, we will sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever… We are Americans.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Veterans are all around you, in industry, public service, public safety, education & your neighbors, just to name a few. We fought and served for you and we would do it again, for you, to preserve freedom & liberty. There is a verse from Scripture “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. ~ John 15:13
God Bless you all and God Bless our community, State, and Country.
Comments(10)