booksbenji
05-21-06, 12:10 AM
"America Supports You"
Saturday, May 20, 2006
President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country.
On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense.
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/images/ASY-AFD2006med1.jpg
I SALUTE ALL WHO HAVE SERVED
http://www.talkingproud.us/ImagesPhotoGallery/Respect/MarineVetsUK.jpg
WHO PAID WITH THE ULTIMATE SCARIFICE
http://www.talkingproud.us/ImagesPhotoGallery/Respect/HonorAfterFall.jpg
BEN WEIHRICH
USMC '69 - '75
Semper Fi
booksbenji
05-21-06, 12:16 AM
TO THOSE WHO ARE SERVING NOW
http://www.talkingproud.us/ImagesPhotoGallery/Respect/USUKAU.jpg
AND TO THOSE WHO WILL STEP INTO OUR FOOTSTEPS
http://www.talkingproud.us/ImagesPhotoGallery/Respect/LorenzBryanSalute.jpg
http://www.thesquadbay.com/forum2/Smileys/default/handsalute.png
BEN WEIHRICH
USMC '69 - '75
Semper Fi
thedrifter
05-21-06, 08:02 AM
Vets, troops gather for Armed Forces Day celebration
By KYLE ODEGARD
Corvallis Gazette-Times
Bravo Company soldiers heading to Mongolia in August
Local veterans from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, as well as the Coast Guard and the Merchant Marines, shared stories of their service during an Armed Forces Day celebration on Saturday.
About 75 people attended the event, which was held in the Corvallis National Guard Armory.
It also featured patriotic tunes and a brief speech by Sgt. 1st Class Tommy Houston of Bravo Company.
The Oregon Army National Guard unit, based in Corvallis, will take 80 of its soldiers to Mongolia for a month on a United Nations peace-keeping mission in August, Houston said.
Thirty other countries will cooperate in the operation.
About 15 other members of Bravo Company will head to Afghanistan.
Other speakers included: Domenic Germaneri, representing the Navy, who was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked; Samuel Bailey, who fought with the Army in World War II and Korea; Kenneth Edwards, former commander of the Air Force ROTC unit at Oregon State University; Marine Sgt. David Nord, who returned from his last tour in Iraq earlier this year; former Coast Guard seaman Betty “Jane” Fisher; and Gene Kelsey, who served in the U.S. Merchant Marines.
Edwards remembered the soldiers he served with, and their incredible dedication to their country. These were people who pledged, not only to give their lives for their friends, but for people they don’t even know, he added.
Bailey arrived in Normandy 18 days after D-Day.
“Beverly Beach and Normandy beach are very much alike,” he said. But instead of Highway 101 looking down on the Oregon Coast, picture pill boxes and other German positions, Bailey added.
He was a replacement for men killed in the attack.
Fisher told of being in Times Square on V-J Day. “It was a crazy world everywhere that night, and especially in New York City,” she said.
It took her 20 minutes to get from the subway to the street because she was kissed so many times.
The Rev. B. Shepard Crim, chaplain of Samaritan Village, and a U.S. Navy and Coast Guard veteran, helped start the ceremony.
“We pray for all those serving on active duty today, throughout the world,” he said.
The Armed Forces Day tribute was organized by Support Our Troops, a group that holds a rally from 5 to 6 p.m. every Wednesday at Ninth Street and Circle Boulevard.
Support Our Troops also is sending care packages to soldiers oversees. For more information, call SOT head Kay Hunnemuller at 757-7614. Hunnemuller said items also can be donated at the Benton County Republican Headquarters, 980 Circle Blvd.
Kyle Odegard covers Philomath and rural Benton County. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.
Ellie