What is a
soldier? Who are our veterans?
Some Soldiers
show visible signs of their service;
They wear their BDU'S; their faces are painted;
They carry a rifle and wear a backpack.
Some work in the desert; others in the mountains;
Some work in a submarine; others on an aircraft carrier;
Still others fly F-16's; while others fly Apache Helicopters
Who are these
men and women
Who wear these uniforms?
He is the over
1200 men who died
On a infamous December morning in 1941
On a battleship named the "Arizona"
Which now lies at the bottom of the ocean
In a place called Pearl Harbor.
He is the POW
who went away one person
And came back another
Or didn't come back at all.
He is the
sailor who comforted
His best friend who died in his arms.
His friend pushed him aside when he saw the blast
From the terrorist attack on his ship
Named the USS Cole.
He is the
Veteran who rides in the car during the yearly parade
He waves and smiles at the crowd
He rides and not walks because he lost both his legs saving
A Child who was about to walk into a minefield
Near a town named Da Nang.
He is your
neighbors boy,
the one you coached in Little League
He is 22 now, and he just came home from
4 years of service in Bosnia
He joined the army because he told his parents that
Ethnic cleansing in the 30's and 40's was wrong
And it is still wrong 60 years later.
He is that
older man down the street
Who keeps to himself:
He prays to his God every day asking him
"Why he was saved on that
Foggy June morning in 1944".
He was the only man in his 40-man company
That survived a landing at a place
Called Normandy Beach.
He is the
other Legionnaire who is a proud marine.
It took him 4 hours to pin the medal and ribbons
On his old uniform before the parade.
It took him 4 hours because he has two prosthetic hands.
His hands were blown away when he jumped on a grenade
To save the men in his platoon in a battle
Located somewhere in the Jungle
30 miles north of Tajaon, Korea.
She is the
mother of three who's oldest is only five.
She is an air traffic controller
Serving on the USS Enterprise stationed in the Gulf
She guides F-16's back to the carrier on
Dangerous nighttime landings
She has not seen her children in 4 months.
He is the
three anonymous heroes in the Tomb of the Unknowns,
Whose presence at Arlington National Cemetery
Must forever preserve the memory of
All the anonymous heroes
whose valor dies unrecognized with them
On the battlefield or in the ocean's sun less deep.
He is the old
guy bagging groceries at the supermarket
He is palsied now and aggravatingly slow
But it is he who helped liberate a Nazi death camp
And wishes all day long that his wife were still alive
To hold him when the nightmares come.
He is the 22
airmen who's plane collided
With a Chinese jet.
They did their duty and acted with
Integrity, character, and honor.
He is our sons
and daughters, cadets of the class of 2001,
At the United States Military Academy at West Point
They will soon join the ranks of the "Long Grey Line",
Which include Lee, Grant, Pershing, Patton,
Eisenhower, Mac Arthur and Schwarzkopf.
They will now live their lives and make every decision
By a code of conduct of "Duty, Honor, Country".
He represents
the purple mountain majesty.
He is our amber waves of grain.
He has followed in the footsteps of those before him
And he has cleared a path for those to follow.
He has
protected those three words;
Words that this nation was founded upon;
Words that no other nation say.
They have
protected these precious words
With their bravery, honor, and courage.
Three words that make us Americans:
"WE THE
PEOPLE"
So remember,
the next time you see someone
Who has served our country
Just walk up to him and say
Thank you.
In a few short
weeks the class of 2001
Will begin a lifetime of service to our nation.
Let us remember and be thankful
For those who serve.
Thank you.
