and there are several because it reminds us of all the times our human family has been forced to resort to violence and killing in order to resolve our differences a day of sorrow for the measure of their humanity that we must ask our fighting men and women to set aside every time we ask them to do the terrible work of war god of love this is a day of gratitude and gratitude for the men and women whose love for this country for its highest values love for their families and communities and especially love for those who fight alongside led them to service into subsectors face a day of humble gratitude because on this day we stop to remind ourselves that i wonder is freedom is purchased over and over again year after year by those who are willing to risk their lives and those who give up their lives for the sake of that freedom again gratitude for all the courage generosity devotion and sense of honor that these human beings struggle to hold onto and express even while they are experiencing the tragedy of war god of love this is a day of promise a promise that those who have fallen protecting us but the ones they left behind will not be forgotten of promise that we will honor their deaths by making the greatest possible blessing out of the lives in the world that they have left for us the lives in the world that they have made possible for us a promise standing in this sacred place on this solemn day of remembrance that we will renew our efforts to fulfill the prophets a vision of a time to come when swords will that last be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks when nations shall no longer looked up sword against nation nor even study the ways of war when every person will be able to sit under a vine and figtree and not feel a fr come when all the brothers and sisters of the human family living in every part of this planets will lift their hands towards each other only in order to heal and help and comforts the day to come when families will be able to come to beautiful places like this one to lay their loved ones to rest only at the end of long healthy for thrilling lives shared together over many many years of lasting peace go love this day of sorrow mixed with gratitude we pray that time comes very soon and we renew our promise to do whatever we can to help make it real and let us say  injuries suffered while in combat he survived those injuries returned to belmont raised a family with the right and the ray and his four children he passed away at the end the first two thousand of  on that same day specialist jonathan curtis son of philip and family curtis died from combat wounds inflicted by an enemy's improvised explosive device in kandahar afghanistan know afternoon first i'd like to say thank you for inviting me to take part your memorial day of service the show of support in this town has just been absolutely incredible as you might imagine my sellers and i participate in events like this year around and the amount of people out here today in support of veterans and those were falling in line of duties is absolutely amazing so thank you very much for inviting us to be a small part of your ceremonies i have the the honor and a privilege to command seventy of the navy's very best sailors these amazing young men and women are a highly visible reminder of the navy's commitment to defend our country and our way of life one of the things that i frequently asked them to do i challenge him to do is to ask why i tell them to challenge the status quo it to look  learn at the reasons behind everything that we are asking them to do and if this isn't a challenge i'm not telling them to challenge authority but what i want them to do is to learn the  reasons by which they're they're going through their daily tasks i just don't think it's enough to go through life in whatever capacity and just go with the flow i believe that everyone has a right and a responsibility to understand the different aspects of the job for the countless different things to which we dedicate our time asking that simple question why can open up a whole world of understanding so much with that in mind i think to take the next few minutes and explore the reasons why we're all standing here today crew and i can attest remembering those who came before him who sacrificed forces important u s s constitution is the flagship of our navy and as of two thousand and ten when she was designated by congress as america ship of state she is the official flagship of our nation and our ship and by that i mean our ship all of our ship is a testament or even better a living legacy that exemplifies honor courage and commitment in defense of our way of life but at the same time she represents the naval services i think she also represents every american who served our nation and every day when we welcome people they tell us stories about when they served they tell us why they joined the military and what what decisions led them to put on our nation's uniform and tell us of the sacrifices they made maybe even more importantly the sacrifices of their comrades and short these people remember i think so should we so like you to look at yourself and ask why are you here those words perhaps the most famous part of the speech but if you take the time to read or listen to the rest of what the president said there's another statement that resonates a lot more at least with me and it and it starts and i'm going to that i find my only answer to why the end bounding determination of the american people begins within each and every one of us it's the underpinning of who and what we are as a nation and i think one would be hard pressed to find a better example of unbounded determination that is on display here today i'm truly thankful for each and everyone who's given so much and sacrifice for our country their words can never describe the impact of the loss of a friend or a loved one and i think spending an hour or so on of them the such an easy thing to do in the end the answer to why is you need to each and every one of us the sacrifices of those  before should be recognized every single opportunity by honoring one person or group for a particular thing we honor everybody else we sacrifice for their country and ultimately we honor america so in closing as you go throughout the rest of your day i think you can think about why you came today and then share that with your friends and your family because understanding the why is important i think they deserve to know why thank you this memorial today for the words we have for the memories we have honored the commitments me had me going forth from this day to the memories of this day and the promises of this day should not be for this day alone that it can be for those who show its gifts and for the world we see together i mean and i'd like to also mention chill let us never ever forget the mit age and the p o w s that this country he still has out here we carry on for them once we forget about them they're right now this concludes our ceremony here down one cemetery and we were on the last leg of this parade which is going to end up down in the bell one high school gentlemen if we could get our units back in line and proceed with that procession would be great appreciated and take a while for coming today thank you very much