The 21st Theater Sustainment Command held a Veterans Day ceremony on Panzer Field 10 November, 2020 in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
The 21st TSC honors the brave men and women from all walks of life who have stepped forward to defend our nation throughout history.
(U.S. Army video by Staff Sgt. Benjamin Northcutt, 21st Theater Sustainment Command)
Transcript
[Narrator] Good afternoon and welcome to today’s Veterans Day observance ceremony. On behalf of the Commanding General, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Major General Chris Mohan and the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Command Sir Major Sean Howard. Thank you for joining us today. We would like to extend a warm welcome to Commanders, Sergeants Majors, family, and friends. At this time, please stand for the arrival of the official party and remain standing for the invocation delivered by Chaplain Metro and the playing of the national anthems of the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America. (soft music) Today’s official party consists of the Deputy Commanding Officer of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Colonel Douglas Levien and 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Command Sir Major, Command Sir Major Sean Howard.
Please join me as we pray, Almighty God on this Veterans Day, we recognize that you’ve moved upon great leaders to establish the United States of America. You stirred them to hope and to dream for a land of freedom. You have inspired many of our best and brightest to volunteer, to proudly defend our beloved country. Today, we honor our veterans. We acknowledge that their service enables generations of people to walk in freedom. We ask that you provide our currently serving soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines your protection, your strength, and your peace. We also give special recognition to our wounded warriors. We realize that many of our heroes are dealing with physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds that occurred as a result of their service to our country. And we ask that you would help these wounded warriors to gain health, stability, and wholeness. Finally, we remember our brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate sacrifice in combat. We are reminded of your words, which tells us that greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down their life for their friends. May each of our veterans feel honored, not just today, but every day. In your name we pray. Amen. (soft music)
[Narrator] Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. Veterans Day is an official United States holiday, which honors people who have served in the Armed Services, also known as veterans. It is a federal holiday that is observed on November 11th. It coincides with other holidays, such as Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world, and also mark the anniversary of the end of World War I. Major hostilities of World War I were formerly ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Today, we recognize our many veterans both past and present who has served our nation honorably. We also would like to take a moment to recognize those members who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our great nation. Ladies and gentlemen, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Deputy Commanding Officer Colonel Douglas Levien.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Command Sergeant Major Howard, Command Sergeant Major Waterhouse, Command Sergeant Major Inks, Lieutenant Colonel Nielsen from our host nation. Team 21. This is a great honor today to be making some comments at this Veterans Day ceremony. 38 years ago, I was in Washington DC on Constitution Avenue with my dad during the welcome home cerebration and the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982 as a 10 year old kid. So it’s great here to go ahead and to be a little bit more participatory during this Veterans Day, but it was a day like this and it was a welcome home ceremony. Raining, first time I saw my dad cry, very diverse group of veterans coming home extremely emotional day, but also a salvatore spirit as well. And that’s kind of like, I think where we are today during Veterans Day, it runs the gamut, right? There’s some grief, there’s some sorrow, there’s some reflection, there’s some happiness, there’s some friendships that we think about and it just continues. So thank you for honoring us today with your presence and more importantly, honoring the brave men and women from all walks of life that answered the call to defend our nation throughout our history. Veterans Day is a celebration of all those who have served and continue to serve our nation with honor and distinction. Each year we set this day aside to celebrate and pay tribute to Americans veterans for the devotion, patriotism, selfless service and sacrifice on behalf of us all. Their loyalty to our country and their great courage have made us what we are today and what we’ve been for more than two centuries. The land of the three and the home of the brave, a beacon of hope in an increasingly complex world. We remember the brave men and women who serve in places such as Gettysburg, Shiloh, and San Juan Hill. The trenches of France, the forest, the beaches of Normandy, the deserts of Africa, the cane fields of the Philippines and the rice patties and jungles of Guam, Okinawa, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. We honor those who serve in places like Panama, Somalia, and Haiti. And over the past two decades, those who have served in Syria, Iraq, and continue to serve in Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East. The graves at countless cemeteries worldwide remind us that freedom is not free. It has a cost. The soldiers resting their ribs supporting the lives and the values that create the backbone of our nation. These soldiers share a special heritage, a common bond with today’s soldiers. If you would look into their lives and whether their privates or Generals or sergeants, you would see practice the same army values, loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. These were ordinary men and women who rose to meet seemingly impossible odds and did extraordinary things. These brave men and women left the safety of their own sovereign soil to defeat tyrants, ensure justice and fulfill the promise of safety and security of our citizens and the global community. Their lives were dedicated not to conflict or death, but to compassion and to life. They have uprooted their families, moved their families and loved ones. Sometimes in the middle of the school year, always tearing children or tearing children and spouses away from friends, schools, jobs, families, and opportunities. They have served in combat, operational deployments and hardship tours while missing births, birthdays, ball games, recitals, anniversaries, holidays, graduations, and other important events that they would never be able to make up or recover. They have those conversations the night before their deployment addressing the unmentionable, what if scenarios that few other professions know. The luckiest among them have seen this experiences strengthen their families and relationships. The less fortunate have seen the same experiences destroy, otherwise healthy families. They have served with the finest citizens our nation has produced. That service has been in some of the harshest environmental conditions on earth from the Arctic cold to burning deserts, steaming jungles to barren mountains, separated from family, exposed to danger and loneliness. In this crucible, they have made friendships and transcend those known by our civilian counterparts who have not shared this same hardships. When these veterans ate their breakfast at home, in the field or on a deployment and read the morning paper, or watch the morning news and learned of the crisis that has beset our nation or world, they did not ring their hands. They rolled up their sleeves. They said, send me. When our nation’s leadership dialed 911, the phone rang in their bedrooms. Usually in the middle of the night, this is the call they answered without hesitation, time and time again, They have fought our nation’s wars, brought comfort to our fellow citizens when natural disasters have devastated their homes, rebuilt broken countries and extended the hand of friendship across the globe representing the best this nation can be. And currently the department of Defense is being turned to, to go ahead and distribute the COVID 19 pandemic vaccine in the next couple of months. We have all been touched by the ultimate sacrifice soldiers have made in service to their country and the suffering it has brought to mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses, and friends. These family members are everything, not just the public confidence and bravado, but the anxiety of deployment. The doubt about careers and the daily frustrations yet they still supported their loved one through all of it, supporting their desires and wellbeing through their parent in uniform and the nation’s needs To them we say thank you for a debt we can never repay. We remember the families of the missing and the Gold Star families who lost soldiers to illness, injury and combat. Who stood strong through uncertainty and whose resilience, dedication, and commitment to their soldiers continue to shine as beacons through the darkest hours for the rest of us. Today I asked you to remember and honor the missing as well. Our nation is committed to the warrior ethos. I will never leave a fallen comrade behind and continues its efforts to locate, identify and repatriate those men and women who have not returned home. The support our country pays to its veterans is the ultimate tribute to our fallen comrades. Our service members are humbled and grateful for this support and accept it behalf of our country’s Vietnam Veterans who do not experience the same, but who have been at the forefront of welcoming us home and mobilizing the country to never repeat the emissions of the past. May their example of self-service and sacrifice continue to inspire us all. For nearly 20 years, our service members have been at war though we have been resilient in meeting the challenges of war, we must prepare for the challenges of the next decade. I ask you to remember those who stand shoulder to shoulder against terror and oppression to carry freedom’s torch in foreign lands. Remember the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines men, welcome them home with open arms, comfort, their hidden wounds, personal traumas, and support their families. Never forget the missing and be thankful for their service. Let this Veterans Day be a beginning, a rebirth of our commitment to live and to serve with passion, humility, and patriotism. Thank you each and every one of our veterans, regardless of what uniform you wear currently, and regardless of what title or rank you hold. We appreciate you all and honor your sacrifice to our mission, to keep the United States and our allies safe, both at home and abroad. Happy Veterans Day to all of you. Always ready, seven strong, first and support, strong Europe. (claps)
[Narrator] Douglas Levien accompanied by Command Sir Major Howard will now lay a wreath at the 21st Theater Sustainment Command Memorial. Please remain seated at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand as Colonel Levien and Command Sir Major Howard (mumbles) Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the playing of the 21st TSC March honor to all of our us military veterans by playing each US military service song beginning with the United States Coast Guard, United States Air Force, United States Navy followed by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army Song and remain standing for the departure of the official party. (soft music) Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Major General Chris Mohan and Command Sir Major Sean Howard. Thank you for attending today’s ceremony. First in support.