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November 3, 2006
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During the Army 231st Birthday
celebration on 15 June 2006, Army
Secretary Francis Harvey, SMA
Kenneth Preston and Army Chief
of Staff GEN Peter Schoomaker affix
the Operation Enduring Freedom
campaign streamer to the Army flag.
(Photo: Staff Sergeant Carmen L. Burgess) |
The Army Flag carries 178 battle streamers as it passes on parade with the Stars and Stripes in a color guard. Those streamers are both reminders of and a monument to the selfless service to the millions of Soldiers who have served our country.
Over the years these Soldiers (both draftees and volunteers) have represented and continue to represent the essence of America—men and women who have answered the call to duty to enable our nation and our Army to put “Boots on the Ground” from Bunker Hill, to New Orleans, to Chickamauga, to San Juan Hill, to the Marne, to the beaches of Omaha and Leyete, to Pork Chop Hill, to the Ia Drang Valley, to Checkpoint Charlie, to Panama, to Bosnia, and today in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These millions of former Soldiers are our veterans; we honor them nationally every November with parades, wreath-laying or small American Flags at the gravestones in Arlington and other national and private cemeteries.
These veterans, with their service in peace and war, have given us the legacy of freedom we enjoy today. Each veteran’s service has made a difference in keeping America strong and free.
Our nation and national leaders have always shared concern for those who served. General Washington, as his Continentals were mustered out, stated that our new nation owed each “a debt of gratitude.” President Lincoln said that the nation “must care for him who has borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.” President Wilson codified at the national level a day of remembrance, “Armistice Day,” designating the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month as the time to commemorate the sacrifices of World War I. President Eisenhower, recognizing the need to honor all our veterans, established Veterans Day as we now know it to commemorate the service of all Americans in the Armed Forces.
I am most grateful for and proud of all the things we do at our AUSA Chapters and as AUSA individual members to honor our Soldiers serving and our veterans who have served. Thank you for your AUSA service to these, our veterans, who have served. It is appropriate to remember their service; by doing so, each of us is strengthened as a citizen.
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