Gy7ras
11-11-10, 12:06 AM
This is the speech I will give at Gore High School in Gore Oklahoma at an assembly on the 11th of November 2010. It is the first time I have been asked to speak at a high school. Boy I hope I know what I'm doing , LOL!!! :D
Veteran’s Day 2010
Definitions: Veteran; 1. One who has served in the armed forces. 2. Veteran’s Day; Nov. 11, a holiday commemorating the armistice ending world war one in 1918, and honoring veterans of the armed forces.
I have been asked to speak today on Veteran’s Day about a day that honors veterans, and I had to really think about what I was going to say without patting myself on the too hard. I had to humble my thinking and speak not about myself, but about other Veterans, and I decided that I would have to speak about those veterans that went before me. I had to think of what lessons had I learned from them and also my military service. So I want to give you a prospective or a view through the eyes of veterans I have known, and what I have learned from that experience. Today as veterans we, and I speak for veterans; we will honor the true hero’s, the ones we left behind, the ones that paid the ultimate sacrifice.
When I was a young boy I remember that in our classroom before the school day began we would say the Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge allegiance to the Flag and to the United States of America, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We were saying that we were making a promise to the nation, to be true to the principles for that for which it stood.
Then we would sing the first verse form a patriotic song called “America” written in 1831 by Samuel Francis Smith. It was not the song about America that we are familiar with mostly today, you know the one America The Beautiful that says America, America, God Shed His grace on the. The song is better known by its first verse “My Country ‘tis of Thee only because we only sing the first verse. I’m not much for signing now days but I would like to read this verse to you and I want you to think about what this verse is saying
My country, 'tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.
This verse tells a story and what is that story. The story for veterans is this; we’ve come to learn from our experience that freedom is not free. There is a price to be paid for it. Veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States have and will continue to pay that price.
The price has been paid since the days of George Washington at Valley Forge and the war for independence, to present day in the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan. Today as we sit here in this assembly on Veteran’s Day, once again many of our young men and women are engaged on foreign battlefields in the name of the ideals of freedom and liberty. These today are the guardians of our freedom and our way of life. But for every veteran who defends freedom today, the duty of guardianship has been passed down to them.
Freedom I heard someone say who had experienced for the first time; has a sweetness that all the riches in the world cannot buy. I heard another man who came here from India say the air is so filled with freedom in America, that he had gained nine pounds just from breathing it. Freedom while it cannot be seen it has been said; is something than can be felt, only when it is truly present!
So I say to you if you want to get a better feel for what the face of freedom may look like, ask a veteran. He or she might tell you that freedom is something here in America that waits outside your door everyday as you step out into your town, your city, your community; that allows you to think about how you will choose to live today, to speak freely about what you think, to walk the public streets without having to carry permission documents or ID Cards to do so.
They might tell you that you can see it in the beauty of the landscape, the glistening of the lakes, and rivers, the sightseeing as you travel the highways, and be thankful that you have the liberty to do so. They might tell you that freedom is the bountiful possibilities to pursue your dreams, and the chance to live them. They will tell you that they know that our future and freedom will lay in the hands of our young citizens and patriots of today, who will also understand that freedom while it is sweet, it not free.
And lastly I would ask you this question; what do you see when you look at our American Flag. As a Veteran let me tell you what I see. I see not just a colored piece of material with a fancy design, but a sacred trust that has been paid for with the blood and sacrifice of those that went before. A symbol whose very foundation is laid upon the souls and duty bound lives of our Veterans. And remember this; someday this sacred duty will be passed down to you and you will become the guardians of what we find so precious; “Freedom.”
So when you see a veteran don’t just think of him or her as some old person wearing an old uniform from days gone by; because like Freedom and the American Flag, that uniform has been paid for with the same sacrifices. And maybe just say with a smile, really! “Thank you for your service.
God Bless you All, and God continue to bless America.
Thank you!
Roger A. Sanchez Sr.
Gunnery Sergeant USMC Retired
Veteran’s Day 2010
Definitions: Veteran; 1. One who has served in the armed forces. 2. Veteran’s Day; Nov. 11, a holiday commemorating the armistice ending world war one in 1918, and honoring veterans of the armed forces.
I have been asked to speak today on Veteran’s Day about a day that honors veterans, and I had to really think about what I was going to say without patting myself on the too hard. I had to humble my thinking and speak not about myself, but about other Veterans, and I decided that I would have to speak about those veterans that went before me. I had to think of what lessons had I learned from them and also my military service. So I want to give you a prospective or a view through the eyes of veterans I have known, and what I have learned from that experience. Today as veterans we, and I speak for veterans; we will honor the true hero’s, the ones we left behind, the ones that paid the ultimate sacrifice.
When I was a young boy I remember that in our classroom before the school day began we would say the Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge allegiance to the Flag and to the United States of America, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We were saying that we were making a promise to the nation, to be true to the principles for that for which it stood.
Then we would sing the first verse form a patriotic song called “America” written in 1831 by Samuel Francis Smith. It was not the song about America that we are familiar with mostly today, you know the one America The Beautiful that says America, America, God Shed His grace on the. The song is better known by its first verse “My Country ‘tis of Thee only because we only sing the first verse. I’m not much for signing now days but I would like to read this verse to you and I want you to think about what this verse is saying
My country, 'tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.
This verse tells a story and what is that story. The story for veterans is this; we’ve come to learn from our experience that freedom is not free. There is a price to be paid for it. Veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States have and will continue to pay that price.
The price has been paid since the days of George Washington at Valley Forge and the war for independence, to present day in the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan. Today as we sit here in this assembly on Veteran’s Day, once again many of our young men and women are engaged on foreign battlefields in the name of the ideals of freedom and liberty. These today are the guardians of our freedom and our way of life. But for every veteran who defends freedom today, the duty of guardianship has been passed down to them.
Freedom I heard someone say who had experienced for the first time; has a sweetness that all the riches in the world cannot buy. I heard another man who came here from India say the air is so filled with freedom in America, that he had gained nine pounds just from breathing it. Freedom while it cannot be seen it has been said; is something than can be felt, only when it is truly present!
So I say to you if you want to get a better feel for what the face of freedom may look like, ask a veteran. He or she might tell you that freedom is something here in America that waits outside your door everyday as you step out into your town, your city, your community; that allows you to think about how you will choose to live today, to speak freely about what you think, to walk the public streets without having to carry permission documents or ID Cards to do so.
They might tell you that you can see it in the beauty of the landscape, the glistening of the lakes, and rivers, the sightseeing as you travel the highways, and be thankful that you have the liberty to do so. They might tell you that freedom is the bountiful possibilities to pursue your dreams, and the chance to live them. They will tell you that they know that our future and freedom will lay in the hands of our young citizens and patriots of today, who will also understand that freedom while it is sweet, it not free.
And lastly I would ask you this question; what do you see when you look at our American Flag. As a Veteran let me tell you what I see. I see not just a colored piece of material with a fancy design, but a sacred trust that has been paid for with the blood and sacrifice of those that went before. A symbol whose very foundation is laid upon the souls and duty bound lives of our Veterans. And remember this; someday this sacred duty will be passed down to you and you will become the guardians of what we find so precious; “Freedom.”
So when you see a veteran don’t just think of him or her as some old person wearing an old uniform from days gone by; because like Freedom and the American Flag, that uniform has been paid for with the same sacrifices. And maybe just say with a smile, really! “Thank you for your service.
God Bless you All, and God continue to bless America.
Thank you!
Roger A. Sanchez Sr.
Gunnery Sergeant USMC Retired