00:05Thank you so much. How many veterans, active duty, first responders are here? If you're over
00:14there and you're a veteran, could you stand up? And our active duty folks here, and our veterans.
00:22God bless you all.
00:30I didn't serve in the military. I have family members who did. I have great respect for
00:35those who serve. I have Vietnam veterans in my family, on my wife's side of the family,
00:42and I remember what it was like for them to come home to a nation that was kind of torn
00:47apart
00:48and divided at that time. And it was a difficult, difficult time for our military at that time.
00:55I learned a lot from the Vietnam veterans in my family. I learned how difficult it was for them
01:01to go off to war and then come home to a nation that had turned its back on them. And
01:06we could
01:06never, ever let that happen again.
01:15So after September 11, 2001, having been involved with veterans in the 80s and 90s, I felt that there
01:23was a call to action at that point to step up. And I realized there was a great role for
01:30citizens to
01:30play in backing up our military. And these are our defenders. They're our providers of freedom.
01:36And so we, as citizens, we can take some responsibility to make sure that they at least know
01:44how much they are appreciated and their families know they're appreciated and that we never forget
01:51those who fall in freedom's defense. So what I do at the Gary Sinise Foundation is just try to be
02:00this
02:00little rallying point for the American people who want to support our military. And we have thousands,
02:05hundreds of thousands who go to our website and support us because they care about you. They
02:11care about our veterans. They care about our first responders. They care about our families. They care
02:16about our wounded. And they care about our active duty folks. We can never do enough, but we can
02:22always do more. God bless you and God bless America. Enjoy the parade today. Thank you very much.
02:32Gary, thank you. Thank you for all you do for us. Wow. You can see why they made him an
02:37honorary Marine.
02:38Certainly deserving of it. Semper Fi. Well, ladies and gentlemen, please, if you're able,
02:42rise and place your hand on your heart for the singing of our national anthem by Tech Sergeant
02:47Benton Feltley.
02:56Oh say can you.
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