Veterans Pride Initiative / DVA Veterans' Day Message

Posted 2007-11-08 10:08 PM (#9051)

Great Sage of the Sea

Posts: 602

Location: Visalia, Ca.

Subject: Veterans Pride Initiative / DVA Veterans' Day Message

This was forwarded to me from several sources.

I did it last year, didn't see many others. How nice would it be to see a LOT of Shipmates & Comrades wear their ribbons and/or medals this weekend.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: VA Media Relations
> To: VANEWS-L@WWW.LISTSERV.VA.GOV
> Sent: Wed Nov 07 10:14:22 2007
> Subject: VA's Veterans Day Message
>
> Recent VA News Releases
>
> To view and download VA news release, please visit the following
> Internet address:
> http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel
>
>
> Wear Your Medals on Veterans Day: Mansfield
> "Veterans Pride Initiative" Shows Support for Service Members
> WASHINGTON (November 7, 2007) - For veterans to show their support of
> the U.S. military, especially for the men and women serving overseas in
> the Global War on Terrorism, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon
> H. Mansfield called on the nation's 24 million veterans to wear their
> military decorations on Veterans Day.
>
> "By wearing our decorations, we show the world the unity of our support
> for the U.S. armed forces and our pride in the men and women serving
> today on the frontlines of freedom," said Mansfield, a decorated and
> wounded combat veteran of the Vietnam War. "We also teach the meaning
> and the value of military service to the children of America."
>
> Former Secretary Jim Nicholson, launched the "Veterans Pride Initiative"
> a year ago, urging veterans to pin on their decorations for Veterans
> Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and other patriotic holidays and
> events.
>
> Additional information about the initiative can be found at VA's Web
> site at http://www.va.gov/veteranspride. The site includes information
> about how veterans can replace lost medals or confirm the decorations to
> which they are entitled.
>
> Mansfield is scheduled to take part in the national observance of
> Veterans Day at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery
> on Sunday, Nov. 11 Most of 125 national cemeteries operated by the
> Department of Veterans Affairs and many of the Department's 153
> hospitals will be holding their own observances.
>
> Originally conceived to mark the end of World War I in 1918 - when an
> armistice for "the war to end all wars" began on the 11th hour of the
> 11th day of the 11th month - Veterans Day now honors the service of
> everyone who served in the U.S. military.
>
> Attached is Acting Secretary Mansfield's Veterans Day message.
>
> # # #
>
>
> A Veterans Day Message
> From the Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs
> Gordon H. Mansfield
>
> On this Veterans Day 2007, we come together as a Nation to thank our
> veterans for their service and to let them know that their service and
> sacrifices will never be taken for granted.
>
> Americans are blessed to live in a Nation of democracy and freedom. For
> these blessings we thank our veterans. Here and in communities across
> this great country, we honor veterans for protecting and securing
> democracy and freedom throughout our history.
>
> Veterans are everyday men and women we know as friends, neighbors,
> relatives and colleagues who have served our Nation in extraordinary
> ways. They have preserved and strengthened our country and made
> sacrifices beyond duty's call. Even as we honor them this Veterans Day,
> their successors are courageously defending our freedoms at home and
> abroad. Veterans and their families are truly among our finest
> citizens.
>
> At the Department of Veterans Affairs, we are proud to fulfill the
> solemn pledge of President Abraham Lincoln, who during his second
> inaugural address on March 4, 1865, set forth our obligation to care for
> those injured in body and spirit in their defense of our Nation and for
> the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The VA and the
> over quarter-million men and women serving in it give daily endorsement
> of President Lincoln's commitment, and do so in a spirit of compassion,
> respect, sensitivity and gratitude. Let us today, therefore, remember
> Lincoln's charge to us:
>
> "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
> right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
> work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who
> shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan - to do
> all which may achieve and cherish a just, and lasting peace, among
> ourselves, and with all nations."
>
>
>
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