the practice of prayer is always a big part of our national life as a people already at our constitutional convention our founders prayed for god's help in their benjamin franklin who is not going to be very religious said it this way we have been assured in the sacred writings that except the lord build they  in vain that build it and john adams added to his sentiment and said our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people it is wholly inadequate praise your goodness and to seek your favor we thank you lord for making possible this commemoration event and the importance of what it means and what it represents there is much for which we can be thankful this evening we express our gratitude to you for the many people who worked and gave generously to make our celebration possible for our veterans and family members who are present and for many others who were not able to be with us for all who are participating in the program and for the city of holland in doing so much to welcome us lord we offer a special prayer for your blessing all of gold star widows and mothers also for those of our veterans who still have the visible and hidden wounds of war and for all caregivers who provide treatment for our veterans we also pray for our young men and women on active duty as they perform courageous service and sacrifice to our country and its people and secure the blessings of the life and liberty for all read guidance and wisdom overlord to the president all members of the chain of command and all their advisers and guard we ask you to bless us and our nation give us courage to rise above the tragic sorrows of our time and they love us to be a more unified thank you thank you so much for coming here tonight this is such a a wonderful gathering it's the kind of thing that you heard about long ago and never thought would happen in the twenty first century i'm just so grateful for all of you who are willing to come tonight because holland michigan has decided to be a part of the united states of america viet nam war commemoration for him we are partnering with the nation in order to armory what has been sacrificed by many of you it is set up as a hometown veteran focused program that's designed for fire all state and local organizations to assist a grateful nation thanking and hiring our vietnam veterans and their families where they live and work we want to be a part of this program because we participate in planning and conducting events or activities that will recognize vietnam veterans and their families sacrifice and service so commemorative partners must commit to conducting two events or activities each year for a three year period so we plan to do that and have these commemorative events be dignified and memorable occupations that show sensitivity and appreciation for the solemnity of war the losses suffered by many and the sacrifices are who serve we want to thank and hire veterans of the vietnam war including personnel who were held as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action for their service and their sacrifice i'll be happy united states to hire and thank the families of those veterans today we also have with us mark forward who  president of the forgotten eagles of michigan guess we call them brothers and sisters there on able to be with us here today so we remember th their intentions to respond to their country's call or remember single red rose displayed in a vase reminds us of the families and loved ones of our comrades in arms who keep the faith witness to their own nearly determination to demand a proper accounting of our missing remember the candle is lit symbolizing the upward a slice of lemon is on the bread plate to remind us of their bitter fate remember their assault upon the bread plate symbolic of families two years as they wait remember the glasses inverted they cannot toast with us today remember the chair chairs empty they are not here remember remember all of you that have served with them and call them comrades who depended upon their might and their aid and relied upon them surely they have not for say can you remember remember until the day they come home remember thank you let me first say i think i am in complete hour of the amount of people that are here tonight but then again i should've known better because th written and talks about nuclear war your moral worth three the and you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars revelation eighteen so as of last last babylon that great city there's many references to war in the bible both the old testament new testament even know a lot of references to protection from your enemies  though i walk through the valley of the shadow of doubt i shall fear no evil memorial there and you will see the price of freedom from the civil war to afghanistan by the way this upcoming memorial day as the hundred fiftieth anniversary of it and a quote from life the book life the vietnam years the american involvement in vietnam was confusing from the start it would only more confusing and disheartening as the years passed but even at the outset we related to know what we were doing or even who we were backing in might seem logical that more than half a century later and with hundreds of years histories have even written all would be clear but no and in retrospect we're still confusion and i would also like to thank our government of fifty years after the fact for finally recognizing us officially domino theory being that a vietnam fell to the communists so of the rest of southeast asia and as we found out after the fact sort of loss from cambodia so we gradually escalated the war in order not to provoke the chinese and the russians and to avert a possible world war three in march of nine hundred sixty five one medal of honor was a war but then a strange thing started to happen in washington worry about politics and reelection possibilities for both l b j and later nexen secretary defense robert strange macnamara a man whose name would come to be detested almost universally by vietnam veterans starting writing war like a swarm or a company like he used to in detroit well you can't grouse free fire zones you can should have them if they're over here but if they're over there you have to wait till they shoot first what a way to fight a war persons in the north vietnam cambodia or a lot of us except for a small recount controls again not to raise the ire of the russians or the chinese know again gradual escalation will more than one whose town early even twenty of their men to one of ours and they don't care how long the war lasted for they figured correctly by the way that sooner or later the rising cost of american debt would create strife here in the united states and that's when the war protests started actually the first warm was on  know either nine hundred seven sixty seven or sixty eight i can't remember exactly which at the how memorial day parade there were were even a small group of protesters from no college and then there was the sixty eight democratic convention in chicago and then happily laid around town state university and then there was the the make love not war generation the ha got to get out of this place but the man from how i'm being the good men they were kept on going when your name was call even on line when i graduated from high school with a nine hundred sixty two went over as an army nurse here's the view of one soldier who wrote a short poem unless you know a soldier by clive sanders and lost a lawsuit down a soldier you just longer stand the things that we have seen and done it was service of our own here and we are trying to live in combat to cope with the awful sights that should be seen by anyone and keep you awake at nights we don't discuss the wounds we have to the body or the mind we just part hurts behind us and turn our memories to blind we're proud we served probably two of the most realistic ones i've ever seen were we were soldiers watching once and young which is about the i driving and the other one was a four charlie moped which a lot of people haven't seen which by the way the screenplay was written from a young man by a young man then one of the junior high school and waiter graduated from nothing do with vietnam but there were some scenes in the middle of a of of you know and actually it wasn't written about me it was written about a woman a schoolteacher at up the reserves they obviously was taken over in saigon which it wasn't a sound was going to fall which it doesn't weigh said it was a massive communist rectory which it wasn't even walter cronkite the man everybody believes of i don't think we can win the war in vietnam and don't get me wrong i don't want to put all the journalists in the same same basket or join gal staggering military defeat with thirty two thousand vietcong in m b o m v a killed and fifty eight hundred captured they had expected the south vietnamese civilians it was a sad day in our history and it was on the front pages of all the rules but was what was on the back pages is what happened in way it was done by the v c not the m b a school teachers professors doctors government workers were somewhere only executed with their hands tied behind their backs thirty two hundred forty six bodies were found after each other in a way say and good for german doctors to catholic priests four hundred twenty  going back to the by a lot of our wars have been fought over religion like we're fighting right now today in the middle east it was the same way and vietnam the catholic minority which was installed by the french when it was their county for hundreds of years held sway over the vast majority of the boarders felt in doing their job well regardless of the wars rights or wrongs for credit must be given for their magnificent performance under those difficult some still are out there died from the effects of agent orange and some of us struggle with p t s d like myself will never forget i've taken on the task a car going to strange well i'll tell you want to mean he joined the u s navy but he's more like a marine when marines are asked to go to war and fight and maybe die they have they're not just with him he's their go to guy a special breed of sailor that marines do call their own his job is taking care of them so they can go back home when we should he starts in the bullets fly and men all have the dirt the carman looks around to see if anyone's been hurt he hears a feeble cry doc i'm over here the corpsman rushes forward his mission crystal clear he finds a wounded comrade a marine has been shot the corpsman working swiftly given all he's got so if you meet a corpsman say a silent prayer for there are many marines alive today who are glad that he was there there's no way of telling just how much he's done and see as i said he's in the navy but he's more like a marine i'd like john or some of these what i call unsung heroes tonight i'm going to ask some people to stand up and i place all the any applause tough i've got them all standing please i would like any united states navy or coast guard fleet reinforced carmen please stand up any army medics air force para rescue man army navy and air force nurses any doctors anyone else in the medical field i know over half of these men or first class united states army due date nine hundred sixty eight spencer scott three stone specialist for united states army february may twenty four nineteen sixty seven bob come our staff sergeant united states army september twenty seventh one thousand sixty eight got con jap been where specialist for united states army very weight twenty eight nineteen seventy states army feel special forces january eighteen nineteen sixty eight military academy in culver military academy he just wouldn't do whatever everybody thought he should be you on but then he decided to join your army and that's where he found himself he loved the united clue what he meant i'd like to read small portion them from the enemy fire and the bible also says lots of you the peacekeepers for they shall be called the children of god thank you vietnam veterans and veterans piece that we will play is entitled marches of the armed forces when you hear the respective branch of the march for your branch please rise or stand as we perform my old enough to understand the war and so it's great to know your history and understand what has come before you to be able to give us a job wonderful free country also the da are the mothers of the american revolution have a table next to the historical timeline where they'll be the flag for certificate so please talk to them and they'd also like to thank all the private citizens the veterans morgan is ations the generous community donors i think they're listed on your program who have made this war commemoration possible in holland michigan we want most importantly we want to back a would like you to join me as we sing god bless america it's a little bit different version the very beginning of the course we'll sing twice we stand if you're able oh which is good be loyal and our use of freedom and work for peace and the words of that old hymn my country tis of thee our