Clarksville, TN – I’m honored to serve as Mayor of the City of Clarksville, the home of Fort Campbell and a large number of military veterans.
On Veterans Day, we honor all who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces and their family members. We take time to remember their dedicated service and the sacrifices they have made.
The veterans we honor today come from different walks of life, but they share several fundamental qualities.
They possess courage, pride, determination, selflessness, dedication to duty and integrity – all the qualities needed to serve a cause larger than one’s self.
They rose to the nation’s call because they wanted to protect a nation which has given them, and all of us, so much.
For me, Veterans Day, is a day of thanks.
I want to say to all of Clarksville’s veterans of any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and to every active duty member of our military:
Whether you fought the enemy at Inchon in Korea, Khe Sanh in Vietnam, in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, or at Mosul in Iraq; or whether during your military service you battled to deliver supplies, or to build a bridge, or to provide logistical support, or worked in a military hospital; you are part of an unbroken chain of men and women who have served this country with honor and distinction.
On behalf of a proud and grateful City of Clarksville, I say thank you. Thank you for defending and advancing our freedoms, our liberty and our American way of life.
We also thank the family members of our veterans. We know you have lived through difficult times and often taken on a heavy load to keep the home fires burning.
We thank our local Veterans Service Organization and other groups for the extraordinary work they do for our nation’s heroes.
While it is always fitting to remember those service members who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in war, that is the specific purpose of Memorial Day, which we celebrate in May. Veterans Day, and this is an important distinction, is the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military — in wartime or peacetime. Veterans Day is largely intended to thank living veterans for their service.
So join me today in acknowledging all veterans and their contributions to our national security. More importantly, join me in thanking the veterans of Clarksville — these special, dedicated, hardworking men and women in our community who give to others every day, and help to make Clarksville such a great place to live, work and raise our families.
God bless our veterans, and all our troops. God bless Clarksville, and God bless America.
