Episode 4513: WarRoom Memorial Day Special 2025 Cont.
Episode Stats
Summary
Learn English with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, as he lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day. President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence join other dignitaries to pay respects to the fallen and their families.
Transcript
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The President is on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.
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Momentarily, he will come to the Tomb of the Unknown.
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There's some activity of people getting in place.
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The President will then lay a wreath in commemoration of all of the fallen in all the wars as commemorated
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The President is on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.
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The President is on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.
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The President is on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.
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memories, places with names like Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Normandy, Inchon, Coast, and Fallujah.
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We're also reminded of the many places we've never heard of, on and under the sea, on land
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and in the air, where incredible acts of valor and sacrifice were followed by a knock on
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It is in those families left to carry on, whose loss forever lives on, in their hearts
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and in their memories, but also in the sustaining pride of being an American Gold Star family
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Families with last names like Sather, Duthman, Gilbert, Brown, Barber, Henderson, Zembiek,
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Jones, Wheeler, Kent, and so many others like Horton.
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It's in the lives of the fallen and their families that were left by a standard to live by, a
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charge for us all to keep, a charge to carry the torch forward with duty, courage, and love
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It is our responsibility to carry that weight and to live in a way worthy of their sacrifice and
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General George Patton once said it best on a day like today when he said we should thank
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Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Secretary, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here
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on this Memorial Day to honor those we lost in the service of our nation and their families
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May we never forget our fallen and their families.
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May we never forget our deployed forces and their families.
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And it is now my sincere honor and privilege to introduce the 29th Secretary of Defense,
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a combat veteran himself who's knelt before battlefield crosses, who's seen up close the
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courage and sacrifice we're here to honor today, and who never ever forgets that the
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gifts given here are in defense of our great nation.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Pete Hegseth.
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Raksa, President Trump, Vice President Vance, Chairman Cain, Gold Star families, ladies and gentlemen,
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thank you for joining us today to remember our fallen warriors.
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We gather here to honor our very best, gone in their youth.
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To properly do so, we understand who they are and what they fought for.
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You know, throughout time, civilizations have honored the powerful, the well-connected and
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the well-born emperors and kings built magnificent shrines to their own royal greatness.
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Yet in America, with our great experiment in self-government, it is fitting that the most
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honored and closely guarded tomb in the land is that of an anonymous soldier of an unknown
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When the first unknown soldier was selected for burial in 1921, he laid in state at the
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Capitol Road, throngs of Americans paid their respects.
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When the tomb was dedicated on November 11th, Veterans Day, the unknown received the Medal of Honor.
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It's a uniquely American tradition that we honor anonymous sacrifice above worldly greatness.
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While we don't know the unknown's identity, race or creed, we know his story.
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It's the story of every soldier, every warrior.
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A young man with hopes and dreams and loves, who's called by his country, leaves behind his
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hometown, his parents, his siblings, his sweetheart, all that he knows to go fight a war that he
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To sleep in a trench, to eat out of a tin cup or on the hood of a Humvee, to pray as bullets
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To fear for the bullet or the mortar or the IED or the RPG with his name on it.
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He does it willingly and stoically because he loves his country, his brothers in arms and
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The story of the fallen soldier who we have gathered today to honor.
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He answered the call, fought and died for this republic.
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You see, the American soldier fights not because he hates what's in front of him, but because
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We honor his selfless sacrifice, his courage, his duty and his love.
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As Jesus taught his disciples, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
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And yet this gift comes with responsibility to those living.
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And for that, we owe gratitude and remembrance.
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We owe at least this to remember their sacrifice and honor their memory year after year, salute
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after salute, ceremony after ceremony, parade after parade, prayer after prayer.
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That by our remembrance, we keep lit the eternal flame of their heroic deeds in defense of
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And we owe eternal vigilance, eternal vigilance, the price of freedom.
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These men died for something, the hope of a free, secure and peaceful republic.
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That is our inheritance and we must steward it and hand it down to our kids and our grandkids.
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These men dreamt of a future in which their children would not fear of attack.
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The duty we owe these men is peace, which only can be achieved through strength.
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And because we strive for peace, we must prepare for war.
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It's the job of the chairman and I and so many others at the Defense Department each and every
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We will never, on behalf of those who've given so much, we will never be complacent.
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So on this Memorial Day, in honor of the unknown soldiers and the known, let us rededicate
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To our great republic 249 years on, we stand on the shoulders of great men and on the shoulders
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of those great men in those graves and may we live worthy of it.
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God bless our warriors and may God bless our fallen.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the United States Marine Band with the United States Navy Band Sea
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Santers will now perform, This Land is Your Land.
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As I went walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway, I saw
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below me that golden valley, this land was made for you and me.
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This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island, from
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the redwood forest to the cold stream waters, this land was made for you and me.
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I rolled and rambled, and I followed my footsteps to the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
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and all around me a voice was sounding, this land was made for you and me.
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When the sun came shining, and I was shining, and the wheat fields waiting, and the dust clouds
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rolling, as the fog was lifting, our voice was singing.
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This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island, from
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the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters, this land was made for you and me.
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And it's where my body's business is managed to rotate, to the Gulf Stream waters, this land
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O'er, who was rising, and the knots in the top lane, it was making the United ConnectIs
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Ladies and gentlemen, Vice President J.D. Vance
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And thanks to General Kane and Secretary Hegseth for your powerful words
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Thank you, most importantly, for everything that you do for our nation's warfighters
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And for those who have given their lives to this country
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We're so thrilled and so grateful to have you with us in attendance
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We gather in solemn commemoration of their sacrifice
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And the sacrifice made by all those who gave up their lives in service to our beloved country
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In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson laid the cornerstone of the Memorial Amphitheater we gather in today
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Buried within it was a copper box which contained mementos of profound significance to the amphitheater's designers and to our entire country
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In the objects they chose to dedicate to posterity
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Those Americans remind us of the values we hold timeless and dear as a nation and as a people
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But those values didn't spring from any stonework or time capsule
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They were lived out day after day by the people buried in this hallowed cemetery
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Each life honored here in Arlington was once full of the ordinary moments and quiet dreams
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Ordinary men and women who chose to shoulder an impossible burden
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It's common, of course, to focus on their deaths
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On the courage to give in that moment what very few are willing or able to sacrifice
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But the real tragedy of the loss is not in a single moment of suffering as our Gold Star families know well
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But in all the future moments they and their families lost
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Every moment between their sacrifice on the battlefield and what would have been a natural death
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Because we know they sacrifice not just their physical life
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They sacrifice the moments that make that life worthwhile
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They sacrifice walking their daughter down the aisle
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Of seeing their husband or wife after a big promotion of sharing a meal with the family at Thanksgiving
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For my fellow Americans, especially those watching on television
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Consider the sum of all the moments that make a good life
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And now appreciate that countless strangers, people most of you never met
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I once heard a Marine Corps Colonel that I served with
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He said this in 2005, not long after a very tough deployment to Iraq
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But the Righteous One, though he die early, shall be at rest
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For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time
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They laid down their lives for Americans they would never meet
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Now we know their families in particular have given so much
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And in particular, I want to speak to the Gold Star families
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To every child here who misses your dad or your mom
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But allow me to suggest two ways of honoring their sacrifice
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Two ways that I try to honor their sacrifice every day
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To treat the lives of our troops as the most precious resource
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Is to only ask the next generation to make the ultimate sacrifice
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We must be cautious in sending our people to war
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Is to commit ourselves to being worthy of their sacrifice
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If you're a husband, be the best husband you can be
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If you're a mom, be the best mom that you can be
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If you're a citizen, be the very best citizen that you can be
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Because together, let us build a better country
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Worthy of the sacrifice of the people that we honor today
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Let us remember that we have been given a great gift
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Let us cherish that gift and make ourselves worthy of it
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And may he bless the country they sacrificed for
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And we're grateful to be joined as well by Chairman Cain
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We gather today to honor the incredible service members
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Have left behind the blessings of home and family
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And given their last breaths to each and every one of us
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This morning we pay tribute to their immortal deeds
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We share in the sorrow of their beloved families
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And as one nation we give thanks for the ultimate gift
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Others who have made the supreme sacrifice for our nation
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And an unbreakable silence in the lives of all who love them
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Every gold star family fights a battle long after the victory is won
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For giving America the brightest light in your lives
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As we commemorate 250 years since the first American patriots fell on the field of battle
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Two and a half centuries ago at Lexington Green, Concord Bridge, Bunker Hill
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Brave Minutemen and Humboldt Farm Boys became the first to give their lives for a nation
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Could never have known what their sacrifice would mean to us
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The freest, greatest and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth
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People doing things that are indescribable and not for today to discuss
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We will do better than we've ever done as a nation
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Chateau, Terere, Anzio, Iwo Jima, Quezon, Kandahar
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And these are names that have become so important on the altar of freedom
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The sacrifice that they made was not merely for a single battle
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Their sacrifice was for today, tomorrow, and every morning thereafter
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Every day the republic stands is only possible because of those who did what had to be done when duty called
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And the cost was everything to them and to their families
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It only grows and grows and grows with each passing year
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The greatest monument to their courage is not carved in marble or cast in bronze
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Which will soon be greater than it has ever been before
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The memory of our heroes as people have done since ancient times
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By telling their stories and exalting their names
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Was a young, beautiful man from Erhard, Minnesota
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When he enlisted in the Air Force and was sent to Vietnam
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Elroy and his crewmates climbed into the dark skies over Da Nang
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On a classified mission known as Operation Carolina Moon
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They were determined to try and get it done in the face of extreme danger
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And Elroy jockeyed his 5,000 pounds of explosives into position
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The aircraft came under unbelievably intense fire
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Try as they might, they were hit as the plane swung low
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Elroy was just 24 years old when he gave his life for America
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That meant Elroy would never know the joy of meeting his son Troy
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And he would never have the pride to watch his son
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Is with us today, joined by his wife Sonia and their son John
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Corporal Ryan McGee of Fredericksburg, Virginia
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Knew from the time he saw the towers fall on 9-11
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He was a tough guy, he was the top of everything
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In high school he was captain of the football team
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And was voted friendliest and most charming by his peers
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He and his unit were tasked with hunting down a weapon facilitator
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Where we have buried our honored dead from the war on terror
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And Sherry, all of America shares in your grief
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As a linguist, translator and cryptologic technician
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Shannon worked alongside elite special force units
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In January 2019, Shannon was on her fifth combat deployment
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When a suicide bomber detonated his weapon-killing
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In some ways I'm glad I missed that second term
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carrying their spirit forward with love and kindness.
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to sustain us now, henceforth, and forevermore.