and god on this memorial day we remember before you all those who have died in service the sacrifice of their blood and lives in the sacrifice of free will be eternally meaningful and your presence of god as we stand on this hallowed ground we remember  upon them as we consider so many sacrifices of god we pray that we would hold them in our memory and our gratitude  our own day to draw closer to our national vision vision of compassion of mercy of justice of the rule of law we make these players and i ask you a in combat or while serving on active duty three belmont veterans are listed as missing in action there are over two thousand veterans in turn interred here and belmont cemetery men that belmont as a community has not forgotten the true meaning and purpose of memorial day to remember and honor the men and women who have died in active military service to defend us and safeguard our country and its value belmont's commitment to its veterans does not begin and with this parade there is a group of veterans and residents who are leading an effort to refurbish and expand our veterans monument which honors army private james paul white and belmont high school graduates who died in the battle of the fall and the world war water monument at concord ave and the concord avenue common street intersection in connection with this effort i am proud to report that the belmont town meeting earlier this month it appropriate sixty thousand dollars from the pounds community preservation funds to help restore the world war one monument and we will always keep your memory alive in belmont thank you iraqi soldiers and more than five hundred coalition soldiers from the united states great britain australia italy poland and estonia earning a prime stop for his service located twenty miles from baghdad can't touch it was the largest military base used for coalition forces in iraq previously general cattlemen only surfaced in director of exercises for the united states central command in tampa florida from two thousand and twelve to  oh memorial day originally called decoration day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of united states of america over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of logan the national commander of the grand army of the republic and his general order number eleven the thirtieth of may eight hundred sixty eight this is designated for the purpose of spreading flowers proclaimed the date of decoration day as he called it was chosen because it was at the anniversary of any particular war on the first decoration day general james recognize this holiday was new york eight hundred seventy three quite eighteen nineteen it was recognized by all the states it is now observed in almost every state on the last monday in may with congressional passage of the national holiday act of one nine hundred seventy one i just recently retired from the united states army up to interest last fall after almost thirty five years of service i was humbled and privileged to have commanded fifteen thousand iraqi and american soldiers entire iraq thirty miles northwest of baghdad in two thousand and five i had the very best so protecting the space and providing security in the taji region and in the taj iraq villages to this day i often think of our fallen soldiers and the suits injured under is not one day that doesn't go by that i don't remember that day i would go to you and the other towns across the nation and city world war two war veterans korean war veterans vietnam veterans there's a storm and iraqi freedom veterans and operation enduring freedom afghanistan war veterans standing tall and proud  outstanding sofas who have served our military and nation with so full service with the ultimate sacrifice and we should never forget their credible service to our nation and for our own individual freedom battlefield or home you know united states let us never forget those brave men and women who have fallen an hour or so from the civil war to our current war in afghanistan these soldiers are our real heroes they have paid the ultimate sacrifice and their precious families have sacrificed over a lie over seven thousand soldiers have fallen in the iraq afghanistan was fifty eight thousand in india fifty seven thousand in korea and over five hundred thousand in combined world war one in world war two wars and six hundred forty thousand in the civil united states should never be taken for granted but on approach these one point three million fallen soldiers that i just mentioned have fought to preserve our liberty through generations of boys has been for him like and spoke eloquently at gigs for united states military is the most powerful and professional military in the entire world thank you  all of you who have served our great for us president abraham lincoln in this newsgroup address says that we are a highly resolve that he stood shall not have died in vain that this nation under god shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth it is our responsibility as citizens to remember weekend with robert hughes parades and family gatherings today resolve to continue the meaning of this holiday which you know love works what do you use better than today to commit to doing th small responsibility later after the sunsets after the smell of hotdogs and burgess fade away i ask you to stop and reflect on this day in the soup kitchen pay the price we will never be able most of all today is a day to tell the stories of the soldiers on the battlefields and decades past so so just yesterday and today are never forgotten by the children  leave the hallowed ground here today if we could take a moment just remember the end i held worldwide without any you know they without them we would have you know no freedoms that we have today so we could take this moment here just for a