Today, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the
eleventh month of 2011, our Nation will pause to honor America’s Veterans and
celebrate their contributions to our way of life. Few have given more to our
Nation than the men and women who have served in our Armed Forces in peace and
in war. At 11:00 am, 93 years have passed since the armistice that ended
World War I, and the unforgotten horridness of 39 Million Allied and Central
Powers soldiers KIA, WIA, and MIA.
Since WWI, generation after generation of Americans—from
Bunker Hill and Bennington to Baghdad and Abbottabad—protected, defended, and
preserved the principles and ideals that define our democracy. Across that
remarkable sweep of history, today’s America was shaped at Lexington and
Concord, Antietam and Gettysburg, in the skies over Midway, on the beaches of
Normandy, in winter’s grip at Chosin Reservoir, in the heat of Ia Drang Valley,
from the Persian Gulf into Afghanistan and Iraq by those who wore our Nation’s
uniforms. Over twenty-two million living Veterans today embody our exceptional
character and values as a people—each a line in our Nation’s history, but
together many chapters towards today’s future.
As we honor and celebrate the contributions of all of our
Nation’s Veterans, we take special pride in those Veterans in Squadron 188 and
the Civil Air Patrol who have served in our Armed Forces and CAP during times
of peace and times of war.
Thank you to our own Veterans:
Col George E Dijeau, CAP
Capt Demetrius B Wren, USAF
1st Lt David Dunham, USN
1st Lt Pat Bitz, USA
1st Lt Doug Perreira, USAF
2d Lt Rex Beach, USN
God bless our Veterans. And may God continue to bless this
great country of ours.
Capt Luneau is Squadron 188's Deputy Commander and is a qualified Mission Pilot.
