And those planes, fast and slow, reminded me of those historic achievements. I'm glad to be here for two obvious reasons. The first and most obvious is joining you in celebrating the Wright brothers and their achievement. The rededication of the Wright Brothers Monument here at the end of the century is a fitting tribute to what they did at the beginning. But secondly, it gives me a chance to personally thank the First Flight Society for inducting me into the First Flight shrine back in 1995.
History works in mysterious ways.
A friend pointed out that at the beginning of the 20th Century, Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to get into a plane, and here toward the end of the century, I was the first one to jump out of one. Countless Americans have served in uniform before me and since. The days I spent flying in the Navy as a young man still mean a great deal to me. It is an understatement to say that my own service days played a major part in shaping my generation and surely affected how I see the world. I'm not nearly as articulate as Buzz Aldrin, because his view and scope is so much greater, but it doesn't seem possible that the first stop I made in my training to become a Naval aviator was right here in North Carolina at the Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill.