Minneapolis Veterans Home - November 11, 2010
Nov 11, 2010 18:16:59 GMT -6
Post by Moderator on Nov 11, 2010 18:16:59 GMT -6
Transcript of the speech delivered by Jeff Seeber on November 11, 2010 for Veterans Day at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis, MN ...
There is a statue in the traffic circle outside the main entrance of the Minneapolis VA Medical Center titled The Price Of Freedom Is Visible Here. Created in 1987 by Vietnam Veteran Rodger Brodin, it depicts a Soldier being held up by a buddy and a nurse moving towards them to help.
That same statue could be placed outside the main entrance of this building, or any building on this campus, or anywhere on the grounds of Minnesota's five Veterans Homes, and be just as appropriate as it is standing in front of a hospital that treats Veterans.
A similar monument or plaque bearing the inscription The Price Of Freedom Is Visible Here could be placed, and maybe should be placed, at the front door of the home of every Veteran who has honorably served our Nation. For some of us, the price we paid is visible because of our crutches, our canes or the wheelchairs we use. No matter where we served or when we served, whether during peacetime or war, Veterans know the price of freedom.
There are also homes across this Nation where the price of freedom is visible because of what cannot be seen ... the husband or wife, the father or mother, the son or daughter, the brother or sister, the cousin or the best friend, who returned home forever at rest under the flag that all of us pledge allegiance to. And there are homes where a loved one has never returned, lost in the fog of war. There is an empty chair in those homes that bears the full weight of the price of freedom.
Those who live with the Veterans who survived, and put up with us, and assist us day in and day out, month after month, year after year, also know the price of freedom. They include our spouses, our families, the doctors, the nurses, the technicians, the therapists, the support staff and a host of others who do their best to help us live among our fellow Americans, many of whom have no idea, and may not even care, what their freedom has cost the few who served for the benefit of the many.
We who have worn the uniform of the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Merchant Marine and the Army and Air National Guard raised our right hands and took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and to follow the orders given to us by our superiors.
As we were taking that oath aloud, we were also doing something that could not be seen or heard. We were signing a blank check, payable to the United States of America, in an amount up to and including our very lives if that became necessary.
Only a small percentage of those in uniform during wartime are sent to combat zones and even a smaller percentage see action. Every man and woman who wears a uniform is equally important to the mission, regardless of where we served and regardless of whether we ever fired a round at the enemy or the enemy at us. We served where we were ordered to report and we did our jobs to the best of our ability.
Every one of us who has worn a uniform griped nearly every day about the food we ate. We moaned about not knowing where we were going or what we were going to do when we got there. We whined about the never-ending marches, drills and inspections.
And then there came that moment at a duty station or in a combat situation when the conditioning, the training and the camaraderie with the people around us joined together to enable us to perform our duty, no matter how dangerous or horrible that duty may have been.
All of us know that it was merely circumstance, a step to the left or a bend to the right at just the right or wrong moment, that determined who lived and who died. Some of us, maybe after a terrible accident or after we had beaten back an ambush, looked at a buddy laying next to us who was mortally wounded or dead and we suddenly understood the real definition of a hero.
Some of us left the service without suffering so much as a scratch. Some of us were medically discharged because of illness or training injuries. Some of us were injured at a duty station or wounded in combat. Some of us were scarred. Some of us lost limbs. All of us were fundamentally changed forever.
Everyone who lives a long life at some point questions if their existence served any real purpose. Veterans of America's Armed Forces do not have to wonder about that.
When we are sitting around talking to each other, or telling our stories to our families, or when we are alone thinking about our lives, every one of us who served honorably knows one thing for certain ... there was a time in our life, no matter how brief it may have been, when we joined with others who would sacrifice their life for us, and we for them, in service of something larger than ourselves, something so important that it was, and is, more valuable than life itself ... freedom.
We can look them in the eye, or we can look into a mirror, and say with complete honesty and in absolute truth ... proudly we served ... proudly I served.
May God bless each of you and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
There is a statue in the traffic circle outside the main entrance of the Minneapolis VA Medical Center titled The Price Of Freedom Is Visible Here. Created in 1987 by Vietnam Veteran Rodger Brodin, it depicts a Soldier being held up by a buddy and a nurse moving towards them to help.
That same statue could be placed outside the main entrance of this building, or any building on this campus, or anywhere on the grounds of Minnesota's five Veterans Homes, and be just as appropriate as it is standing in front of a hospital that treats Veterans.
A similar monument or plaque bearing the inscription The Price Of Freedom Is Visible Here could be placed, and maybe should be placed, at the front door of the home of every Veteran who has honorably served our Nation. For some of us, the price we paid is visible because of our crutches, our canes or the wheelchairs we use. No matter where we served or when we served, whether during peacetime or war, Veterans know the price of freedom.
There are also homes across this Nation where the price of freedom is visible because of what cannot be seen ... the husband or wife, the father or mother, the son or daughter, the brother or sister, the cousin or the best friend, who returned home forever at rest under the flag that all of us pledge allegiance to. And there are homes where a loved one has never returned, lost in the fog of war. There is an empty chair in those homes that bears the full weight of the price of freedom.
Those who live with the Veterans who survived, and put up with us, and assist us day in and day out, month after month, year after year, also know the price of freedom. They include our spouses, our families, the doctors, the nurses, the technicians, the therapists, the support staff and a host of others who do their best to help us live among our fellow Americans, many of whom have no idea, and may not even care, what their freedom has cost the few who served for the benefit of the many.
We who have worn the uniform of the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Merchant Marine and the Army and Air National Guard raised our right hands and took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and to follow the orders given to us by our superiors.
As we were taking that oath aloud, we were also doing something that could not be seen or heard. We were signing a blank check, payable to the United States of America, in an amount up to and including our very lives if that became necessary.
Only a small percentage of those in uniform during wartime are sent to combat zones and even a smaller percentage see action. Every man and woman who wears a uniform is equally important to the mission, regardless of where we served and regardless of whether we ever fired a round at the enemy or the enemy at us. We served where we were ordered to report and we did our jobs to the best of our ability.
Every one of us who has worn a uniform griped nearly every day about the food we ate. We moaned about not knowing where we were going or what we were going to do when we got there. We whined about the never-ending marches, drills and inspections.
And then there came that moment at a duty station or in a combat situation when the conditioning, the training and the camaraderie with the people around us joined together to enable us to perform our duty, no matter how dangerous or horrible that duty may have been.
All of us know that it was merely circumstance, a step to the left or a bend to the right at just the right or wrong moment, that determined who lived and who died. Some of us, maybe after a terrible accident or after we had beaten back an ambush, looked at a buddy laying next to us who was mortally wounded or dead and we suddenly understood the real definition of a hero.
Some of us left the service without suffering so much as a scratch. Some of us were medically discharged because of illness or training injuries. Some of us were injured at a duty station or wounded in combat. Some of us were scarred. Some of us lost limbs. All of us were fundamentally changed forever.
Everyone who lives a long life at some point questions if their existence served any real purpose. Veterans of America's Armed Forces do not have to wonder about that.
When we are sitting around talking to each other, or telling our stories to our families, or when we are alone thinking about our lives, every one of us who served honorably knows one thing for certain ... there was a time in our life, no matter how brief it may have been, when we joined with others who would sacrifice their life for us, and we for them, in service of something larger than ourselves, something so important that it was, and is, more valuable than life itself ... freedom.
We can look them in the eye, or we can look into a mirror, and say with complete honesty and in absolute truth ... proudly we served ... proudly I served.
May God bless each of you and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.