purple hog day this will be conducted every august seventh in conjunction with other cities and towns throughout massachusetts and of and across the country of course we want to show up on and respect and appreciation to each of our purple heart recipients i believe that we have in our presence today a number of those purple had awardees all the family members with us and i really do appreciate seeing them with us and i know you appreciate being with them and we appreciate your time in attendance today know they're finding the time on a sunday afternoon in august is probably not the easiest thing to do in our very busy scowled is but i assure you that our purple heart recipient and their families are most deserving and i know that we appreciate this sacrifice is for it god we thank you for putting it into the heart of george washington two hundred thirty four years ago today to establish this purple heart that has brought us here we're mindful of all those who came after those who paid physical sacrifice and service to our nation we thank you for that long line of recipients of this award that has brought us here today we thank you for their faithful ness for their commitment for their sacrifice we remember those who died years later from their injuries we thank you for those who stood by them and supported them and loved them cared for them and nurtured them at home and sometimes far away we thank you for family and friends for medical personnel we thank you for those among us today who are recipients of the purple heart and we are mindful that there are many among us today that no family or friends who received the purple heart be present with us now as we mark this day as we celebrate this occasion as we give thanks for that legacy of service and be with the speakers who come today give them readiness of speech and give us hearts and minds to receive what they have to offer we acknowledge your presence with us and we pasta give you praise and glory as is most worthy your holy name this day and always amen nephew kind comforting and prayerful words at this time i'd like to introduce angela braun my supervisor and director of health for the town of belmont to offer our opening remarks for today's program angela you good afternoon on behalf of the town of belmont and the office of the town administrator i want to share with you our full support and encouragement of national purple heart day back in december of two thousand and fifteen the town of belmont's board of selectmen affirmed its commitment to the veterans and in particular the purple heart award recipients by proclaiming belmont a purple heart community citizens of belmont the commitment with open arms on april twenty second of this year belmont was officially acknowledged by the military order of the purple heart organization today is august seventh national purple heart day belmont's first opportunity to join with other towns throughout the state of massachusetts and the nation to commemorate the day in seventeen eighty two when general george washington created this medal a military decoration that is awarded to those wounded or killed while serving in the united states armed forces i'm sure you will agree that one of the most treasured and fulfilling joys that life brings is family we lean on our families for support one of the next greatest joys is being american so here we are gathered together to afternoon as a family of americans and support of the courageous military branch of our family our heroes the brothers and sisters who fought were injured or paid the maximum sacrifice of their lives for us and freedom they are the best of america's best we care for you we honor you and we thank you from the deepest depths of our heart every august seventh through the leadership of the veteran service officer we want to publicly remember and lean and learn more about your life stories and your military service the purple heart banner now on display here at the library is symbolic of our honor respect and appreciation for the sacrifices made on our behalf by these awardees and their families at this time i would like to welcome state senator mr william brownsburg to offer a few words thank you it is in fact the values and ideas that live in the hearts of americans and our commitment to service in the name of those values and ideas that makes america great what we're doing today in affirming those values and ideas and recognizing those who have served with distinction is an essential part of preserving what america is reminding us of those values reminding us of the sacrifice that people have made on ring that sacrifice i congratulate the town of belmont for stepping forward putting together this event and doing what is so important which is nourishing those ideas and values and recognizing that service i do have a citation from the senate signed by the senate president congratulating the that initiative and leadership and i extend my own personal thanks and respect as a citizen of the moment for what it's on about what is doing here thank you s to cherish of virtuous ambition in his shoulders as well as to foster and encourage every species of military merit directs that whenever any single e member meritorious action is performed the author of it shall be permitted to wear for coming here this afternoon on a very hot summer day i think everyone all of our veterans here appreciate that the ancient greek historian considered he declared the bravest are surely those who have the clearest religion of what is before them glory and danger all lie and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it when we think of the purple heart medal we think of the bravest of warriors those who have rushed into battle suffering injury disability or death to do their duty we don't often think of our next door neighbor or the veteran we see in the memorial day parade we think of well known heroes like belmont native and basketball star robert stretch proly belmont high school class one thousand nine hundred fifty nine who in addition to the purple heart was awarded the medal of honor for his selfless actions to save his soldiers in vietnam yet purple heart recipients are quietly among us and we honor you today if my late husband brian were here i wonder what he would tell you about the purple heart medal brian was a graduate of the one high school in the united states military academy at west point he was an army ranger he earned two bronze stars and a silver star and was awarded two purple hearts while serving in the first infantry division the big red one in vietnam his first injury was not life threatening and he quickly rejoined his unit the second bullet however three weeks before his tour was due to end changed his life forever for those of us who know him his bravery was not about the battlefield or a swamp in southeast asia or even about the two years the chelsea naval hospital or the lost army career it was about how he lived  life every day overcoming the permanent affects of his wounds unlike the city's brian would not focus on the bravery or the glory or even the danger he would tell you that he was doing his job maybe with clear vision maybe not and that danger of glory and bravery were the last things on his mind caring for his soldiers was his sole motivation brian would tell you that his belmont contemporaries johnny ray and teddy leave gave their lives in vietnam that was bravery he would tell you that his thirty west point classmates who were killed in vietnam and the dozens of others who were wounded deserve our glory he would tell you about the relentless worry we shared over the danger our son and oldest daughter were thrust into every day of their combined seven deployments to iraq and afghanistan he would weep with them over the loss of friends teammates and their own soldiers including my daughter soldier kori schake whose father lives in belmont he would understand the lifelong struggles of his friends and our children's friends who carry wounds throughout their lives he would want us to support all military personnel who throw themselves into harm's way and who go out to meet danger without a thought of bravery or glory he would embrace pam curtis whose son jonathan was killed in afghanistan the day that brian died brian's purple hearts never came out of the drawer for him as i suspect for many survivors who have been awarded the purple heart the medal is a reminder of young lives altered and cut short for them as for brian with the clear vision of old age bravery and glory come from living life to the fullest continuing to serve others and making the world a better place for all of us who can be here today i think the two cities would agree that the motto of the first infantry division the pain in my eyes is what the purple heart it's no mission to difficult no sacrifice too great duty first thank you i'm a very fortunate purple heart recipient i was wounded in vietnam evacuated to the naval hospital in guam had stopped and the marine corps said does he have a pulse doctors said yes send him back to combat in vietnam anyhow when a service member goes into combat they are in the best shape of the a life time they are focused on accomplishing the mission and when they're severely wounded that takes away much of their future in cause depression anger and frustration one of their first questions is what is my role in the fa do i have a role or my going to be independent the service member requires a lot of support from his family when we came back from vietnam the v a did not consider us veterans so the families had to provide all the support needed motion are supporting the faith because the families every single day demonstrate courage above and beyond the call of duty supporting their disabled veterans we still don't recognize their courage but we show it is another aspect of the purple heart when they have family receives the purple heart because their service member was killed my last tour of duty in the marine corps right again i was very fortunate i was stationed at the boston naval shipyard and i was the n c o in charge of the burial detail as many of us know when a person passes on the coffin is a folded american flag and a purple heart meant well i would be presenting that to the family and the family would look up at my chest and see in my purple heart and i knew what was in their mind with anybody's name on them so again i commend the courage of those families who accepted the laws of their loved ones at such a young age such  future and moved on keeping them always in their hearts and minds i want to comment separate from the purple heart about courage in my own family to cheer for her handicapped mother for over forty years from when she was a teenager so our mother passed and she demonstrated that same in closing i just am at a loss for words to describe how on it and appreciative i am to hear the words of our vietnam veterans and their family members  see the support and love for them the words that you shared with us today i am really honored to be a witness to that today i think it's significant that we had this type of a ceremony today and heard those types of words in that we could be witness to the type of sacrifice that i don't want family members have experienced i come from a family of military veterans from all branches of the service myself and you know that is my background but we are just to hear the words that i heard today in this share this experience with you means so much to me and i really honestly sincerely appreciate the efforts made to be with us on this august summer day which is not a convenient time to be here but i really say thank you so much for making the effort and being here i'd like to say thank you to the board of trustees here at the library for making the effort that they did to have us have this event to be conducted here i want to thank peter to zero in particular recovering from a surgery solved to make sure that this event come off the way that it has thank you so much peter and kathy cocain of course thank you for your efforts as well i'd like to take to ask you to take some time to be with us all in the lower level of the library we do have a soft drink some things to pick on for you and just to spend a little bit more time with each other to share this experience and some of the words that we did recall today so thank you once again thank you for being with us