My Husband spoke for God and country at the Cokato\u00a0 Memorial Day Service. Bob is a Viet Nam veteran and had a twenty year career in the US. Air Force.\u00a0\u00a0 His speech had a lot to say to everybody. He did good, real good! Here is a copy of his speech.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thank you Commander Ackerman, fellow veterans and citizens of these FREE United States.<\/p>\n
This is a day of remembrance. A day to pause and reflect on the sacrifice of those who paid the price for the freedom that we enjoy today.<\/p>\n
There are three days in the life of a military person that they remember the most \u2013 the first day, the middle day and the last day.\u00a0 Like some of you, my first day started with an appointment at the Armed Forces Induction Center on the North side of downtown Minneapolis. Bright and early, close to a hundred of us waited and waited some more.\u00a0 There we learned the true meaning of the phrase, \u201cHurry up and wait.\u201d I think I spent most of the morning holding a folder in one hand, my shirt and trousers in the other, following the lines painted on the floor.<\/p>\n
Close to lunchtime, about fifty of us were herded into a room with rows of lines painted on the floor. \u201cPut your toes on the line, \u201dbarked a marine Sergeant, \u201craise your right hand and repeat after me:\u201d<\/p>\n
I, Robert Lea, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.<\/p>\n
Nothing changed, except now we were members of the Armed Forces. \u00a0That evening, I was at the reception center of the Air Force boot camp outside of San Antonio Texas. There, everything changed.<\/p>\n
Like many in the armed services, my middle day was in a country not my own. It had its beauty \u2013 the people were nice \u2013 there were things to do and see.\u00a0 But as GIs, we talked, and we talked often – of only one place we wanted to be \u2013 The World.\u00a0 You see, Mom and Dad lived in the world. Your baby brother, your older sister and all your cousins lived in the world. \u00a0Your high school friends and your fishing buddies lived the world. The world had Hollywood, baseball and music sung without accents. In the world, you could drive a Chevy pickup truck a thousand miles down a freeway and go see the Grand Canyon, or Disneyland, or your Aunt and Uncle in Georgia. The world had the church were you went to vacation Bible school, it had that pizza joint were you used to hang out after the game. You could get a Big Mac in the world. Most importantly, it had American women – \u00a0your girlfriend, or maybe your wife, or even your daughters.\u00a0 Everything that you held dear to your heart lived in the world.\u00a0 When that middle day came, you we half way there \u2013 you were over the hump. You began to count the days until you could once again, put your feet in the world.<\/p>\n
The last day in the service is the most memorable. If you were stationed stateside, you drove out the main gate, honked your horn obnoxiously and glanced up into the rear-view mirror to see the post fading away.\u00a0 \u201cAll my exes live in Texas\u201d\u00a0 my Ex-First Sergeant, my ex – Commander, my ex-weekend duty.<\/p>\n
My last day started with a flight on a chartered airliner. 300 GIs on a plane overloaded with fuel began to slowly rumble down the runway.\u00a0 Shaking, shaking, shaking, and at last the nose of the plane rotated skyward. The engines beat the air furiously as the main gear still carried the weight of the plane.\u00a0 Just when I thought there was no runway left, the wings finally lifted and the ground began to sink away.\u00a0 Above the roar of the engines, 300 GIs hooped and hollered.\u00a0 We were bound for the world.<\/p>\n
After fourteen or sixteen hours in the air, the plane squatted down on precious American soil. The hooping and hollowing was much louder now.\u00a0 As soon as we stepped off the airplane, we were civilians. \u00a0My friend Sergio got down on his hands knees and kissed the earth of his beloved California.\u00a0 I watched curiously. If the plane would have landed in Minnesota, I would have kissed the earth as well.<\/p>\n
There were other planes that landed on that last day.\u00a0 Military planes \u2013 C-141s and C5s \u2013 outfitted for medical evacuation. Some of the GIs walked off the plane on their own power, some hobbled off on crutches.\u00a0 Some deplaned on wheel chairs and others on stretchers.\u00a0 They all gave a brief smile through the pain – knowing they were back in the world.\u00a0 Their last day was further off \u2013 through hospital stays and physical therapy treatments.<\/p>\n
Other military planes landed on that last day. Their passengers didn\u2019t complain about how long the flight was, or whether their bags got lost \u2013 they were coming home to rest \u2013 in peace. No more deserts, no more jungles, no more patrols, not more sorties, no more floats, no more tours of duty \u2013 just loved ones, and friends, and sad hearts and tears.<\/p>\n
Speaking out for those who served and those who died, I thank you.\u00a0 I thank you for this day of remembrance \u2013 I thank you for the parade, the songs and the poems and I thank you for the opportunity to speak before you.<\/p>\n
Speaking out for those who are serving now, I ask you to financially support our young men and women, give them the tools, the training, the equipment and the care that they deserve. I ask that you remember them in your prayers.<\/p>\n
Speaking out for those who have served and those who have died and who are now serving, I ask that you exercise the freedoms we have defended with our sacrifices and with our lives. Some examples:<\/p>\n
Worship your God in your house of worship without fear of reprisal or violence.<\/p>\n
Walk the streets of your community without soldiers and tanks poised to watch your movements.<\/p>\n
Assemble in public gatherings for a common cause or purpose.<\/p>\n
Travel from city to city, live in a city of your choosing, work at a job of your choosing, go to a school of your choosing.\u00a0 Embrace the American dream and rise above your circumstances.<\/p>\n
If your government does good things \u2013 compliment them. If your government mismanages affairs \u2013 speak out and let your voice be heard \u2013 without fear of reprisal.<\/p>\n
And the most important of these freedoms that you can exercise is the right to vote \u2013 the right to input your choice into the fabric of our culture. There are some now who think the government is better suited to making choices than you are and they are using their personal wealth to promote a radical socialist agenda. It\u2019s your vote that defeats their plan and keeps our freedoms strong. Vote at every opportunity.\u00a0 Vote to thank a service man or service woman for their sacrifice.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a third verse from the song, America, The Beautiful, that speaks about the passion in the heart of those who gave their lives:<\/p>\n
O beautiful, for heroes proved
\nIn liberating strife.
\nWho more than self, their country loved
\nAnd mercy more than life!<\/p>\n
America! America!
\nMay God thy gold refine
\nTill all success be nobleness
\nAnd every gain divine!<\/p>\n
Veterans \u2013 I salute you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My Husband spoke for God and country at the Cokato\u00a0 Memorial Day Service. Bob is a Viet Nam veteran and had a twenty year career in the US. Air Force.\u00a0\u00a0 His speech had a lot to say to everybody. He did good, real good! Here is a copy of his speech. Thank you Commander […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplations","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1152"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1158,"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152\/revisions\/1158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/milkandhoneyfarm.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}