Mayor Noam Bramson speaks on Veterans Day 2015. (Photo credit: James O’Toole)
I was honored to speak briefly at New Rochelle’s annual Veterans Day observance yesterday morning. The text of my remarks follows below, and here’s a photo of the event. (Be sure to note the photo credit.)
Sincere thanks are owed to the organizers of the ceremony, to the Police officers and Fire Fighters who attended, to the New Rochelle High School band which performed — and, of course, to the many veterans who have served our nation and continue to serve our community.
Veterans Day Remarks
Today, we stand united in paying tribute to every man and woman who has worn the uniform of the United States of America.
But while words of thanks are important, words alone are not enough to honor the sacrifice of service to country.
Not when so many veterans are still struggling to find a job or a home. Not when so many veterans are still burdened with the physical and mental traumas of war.
Ours is the strongest nation on the face of the Earth, and the greatest force for freedom and justice in the history of humankind.
That is the gift of America’s veterans to all of us and to the entire world.
So let us repay this debt by lifting up every veteran who has earned a place of honor and security here in our own City of New Rochelle, and let us repay it by building a nation whose strength of arms is matched by equal strength of moral purpose and courage.
May God bless the United States of the America and all who have served her cause.