Veteran's Day Speech, 2011
I come here today to honor all the American veterans, past and present, who served our country. My grandfather and great- grandfather fought together in the American Civil war. My grandfather was 15 years old at the time. Two of my brothers and two of my brother- in-laws fought in World War II in the Army Air Corps and the Navy. Two of my high school friends died in the "battle of the bulge"during the last months of WWII and many more were wounded at that time. My father-in-law was a Marine sent to Haiti to protect US citizens during a rebellion there in 1919. One of my son-in-laws Was A Marine that served in Vietnam while another was stationed in Germany right at the end of the "Cold War" with Russia.
While in college in the late 1940's I went with a Wisconsin State Journal reporter to the veterans home in King, Wisconsin where I met and photographed veterans from the Spanish-American War and World War I. While there I met the last Northern veteran from the Civil War, Commander Wilcox, who had served as a young drummer boy. He was 106 years old at the time of my visit.
I graduated from high school one year after WWII so I entered college in 1946 with hundreds of returning veterans. They were proud of what they had done to save the world from the German Nazis' and the Japanese imperialist. Little did I know that four years later we would be drawn into another war in Korea. When I finished college I enlisted in the Air Force because I felt it was my duty to support my country. After basic training I was attached to the Photography School at the Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. I was trained to be a "Still Photography Specialist" which required shooting pictures both from the ground and the air. After my discharge I returned to Wisconsin to teach biology to high school students and computer science to elementary students for fifty years.
Many of my former students fought and died in Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan.
All the veterans I have mentioned were proud to have served their country. We loved the United States Of America and were willing to join the military and fight to protect it.
During my 83 years of living in the United States I have learned that there is always someone in the world ready to destroy us and our way of life. We, as citizens, must always be ready to serve our country and protect it.
Each day I pray for our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who are now, or have been, in the service of the United States Of America.
God Bless America.
