which includes the local chapters of the American Legion,
Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The Hammonton Middle School band and the St. James Lutheran Church choir will perform.
Members of the Col. Louis R. Francine Camp. No. 7 Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War will serve as the color guard.
Atlantic County Freeholder Jim Curcio and members of the Hammonton Town Council are scheduled to participate.
Below is the text from the speech Joe delivered:
I am humbled to be allowed to address our local veterans, those who represent what is best in this community.You have fought proudly for your country and developed a bond, a brotherhood, that can exist only among those who have served.And tonight, as we pay homage to that bond, know that I can receive no accolade greater than to be considered a part of this brotherhood.
Veterans Day reminds us that our history has not been forged by political or business leaders but by our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.Those who have served, those who have fought, those who bled and those who have paid the last measure of devotion have made this nation stronger by their sacrifices.And our Town has always sent its best and its brightest forward to ensure the survival of liberty.
A walk in any of our cemeteries or our Veterans Park demonstrates how deep our commitment to serving our country truly runs.It is interesting to note that even the playground at the Hammonton Lake, despite its uncertain future, is in honor of Captain Girard Palma and others who lost their lives in Vietnam.A simple chat with our neighbors often provides insight into some of the most momentous events in our history, from the invasion of Normandy to the Inchon Landing during the Korean War to Operation Enduring Freedom. I personally have learned much from such perspectives on our history.I recall discussions about the Korean War with Mr. Biviano.Another neighbor, Miles Keough, told me many stories of his experiences as a POW during Vietnam.
Our local veterans have dared to do great deeds.Yet we also must remember the great cost involved in these efforts.Like many of you in the audience, I can remember the faces of friends who have died in the struggle for freedom.In 1999, my brigade lost the crew of a surveillance plane on a mission in Columbia and I was tasked with the terrible duty of transporting dental records from Fort Bliss to Dover Air Force Base in order to identify the remains. In a training exercise in Kuwait in 2001, I monitored communications as several of our servicemen were killed in a training accident.Two of my West Point roommates were killed in Iraq, one in a helicopter crash, the other from a roadside bomb.During this past week, tragedy struck our nation and our servicemen and women with the shooting at Ft. Hood.Indeed, these incidents and so many like them remind us there are tears in human events and mortality touches the mind.
Nor can we forget the other branch of the service, the branch of service that feels every deployment but does its duty in quiet dignity:our military families.I have had the privilege of knowing many of these silent heroes.One is a classmate of mine from West Point.She married another West Pointer.She left the military to raise a family while he remained on active duty.They have five kids under the age of ten.Despite the constant worry from her husbands year-long deployment, she held her family together.She never let a birthday party, a holiday or a homework assignment slip.
Another classmate of mine was severely wounded in Iraq.He lost his leg, an eye and suffered traumatic brain injury.He was in a bad condition.His little daughter was a bit confused about why her daddy was not acting the same as when he left.But his wife and child stayed with him at Walter Reed.Their faith in him as much as any miracle of medicine allowed him to make a full recovery.I am happy to say that he will soon be teaching at West Point.
It is funny.Our politicians of today like to claim the moral high ground on family values.But I have some shocking news for them.Our military families already have been occupying that territory since the birth of this nation.
Yet as we gather tonight and remember both the ordeal and the triumph of those who serve, the real question is what comes next.How do we honor this selfless service?Is this all that we are meant to do?Gather on Memorial Day and Veterans Day and then go about our lives for the remainder of the year?
We face uncertain times.And history has showed us that in uncertain times, the sirens song of easy answers and a complacent spirit seize peoples hearts.For those of us who have stood at Freedoms frontier (Juno Beach, the DMZ, the Khe Sahn, the Iraqi border, and Khandahar), we know the ruin that these attitudes cause.
We must continue to answer our call to service.We are called to be leaders in our churches, in business, in our civic organizations and at all levels of government.We must lead our communities to choose the harder right over the easier wrong.We must speak truth to power.We are called to show courage when courage seems to fail, renew faith when faith is lost and give hope when hope seems forlorn. We must be the leaven that binds the fabric of communities together.
This is not a duty that earns a reward or garners any eulogy.But it is the duty set aside for those who walk in the quiet confidence of understanding the true nature of sacrifice.So let us leave here tonight with a renewed commitment to seek the way and the truth and the light and to bend historys arc towards justice.
Thank you.God Bless You and God Bless the United States of America.
-- Edited by Admin on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:13:13 PM
