♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ ♪ Lone trumpeter playing 'Taps' ♪ Memorial Day the words bring images memories to us all In the cities and towns across America we pause and remember everything we are as people.

As a nation.

We the living pause and honor our war dead those who have fallen and given us their tomorrows so we can have our todays.

And more.

So it is today, with respectful recognition of sacrifice that The Air Force Academy Concert band will premiere "'Til We Speak Again" Composed by band member Technical Sergeant Adam Ohlson.

Over the next few minutes you will hear it uninterrupted accompanied only by your own solemn thoughts.

Maybe a prayer.

Then there will be variations on the music.

the music just heard.

With some stories, some vignettes appropriate to the day narrated along with the music.

Together, we will visit places of beauty, places of meaning, meant to be arresting and contemplative.

We are pleased you can join us this Memorial Day.

♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music ♪ Music Appropriately we begin our Memorial Day Journey at a cemetery the Air Force Academy Cemetery nestled in a small, quiet meadow under the watchful gaze of the Rocky Mountain Front range and the ever changing Colorado sky.

In this place are many friends, but all are comrades, resting here for eternity or 'til trumpets sound and missions start anew.

But our thoughts go at this moment to a different place a lonesome low valley in eastern France, in the province of Lorraine just a mile north of St Avold, it's a valiant and heavily damaged town from WW2.

The Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial Signing the register we view the plaques and documents taking special note General Eisenhower, as President, conferred the Purple Heart, America's oldest military decoration to all invested and interred in this sacred place And now the valley, this lonesome low valley in the province of Lorraine opens up to our eyes .

And the crosses appear.

We stand on the crest and look down on the crosses.

10,489 crosses, our boys who died for freedom.

Freedoms then and freedoms now.

With them, 11 women who perished in the campaign of liberation.

We feel the need to be among them, to honor by presence and tears.

So we carefully, slowly, walk the rows noting names as we can.

They come from every state in the Union.

all races and religious creeds are represented.

Five Medal of honor recipients rest here.

We turn back now toward the chapel.

St Nabor, the Roman martyr patron Saint of nearby village St Avold, is carved in relief and offers solace and blessing to the fallen And to us.

As we enter we are not prepared for the impact of the inscriptions.

The solemnity of presentation, the mosaic history and wrenching emotion as historical figures pay homage to the fallen but heroic warrior.

but now it is with heartfelt and murmured gratitude that we exit.

Past the wall of unknowns.

And again, look out from the brow of the valley, Looking down.

Till we speak again, my countrymen.

It's very lovely.

It's pretty lonely isn't it?

In truth we wanted you to have that sense of privacy.

But know that on the special days, Memorial Day, like today, Veterans day, and others, this is a crowded place.

With international representation, decoration and speeches and reverence for the moment.

It's powerful too.

But not like when its yours, when you're here alone.

or there are just a few other questing souls.

Just before they close, the gates close at 1700 hours, Just before.

Taps is sounded and the Flag lowered and folded.

The French caretaker welcomes assistance You will prize the moment.

Afterward, driving away, the kilometers speeding by, you discover despite the miles, even oceans, you are never really far away from that valley ever again.

your heart keeps you close.

Let's go home to America now.

What is the story behind Decoration Day or Memorial Memorial Day as we call it now?

It's time to meet Major General John A Logan.

Hailing From southern IL and a Douglas Democrat, he was elected to Congress before the Civil War and was a staunch partisan and very much aligned with the south, politically even against the election of Lincoln, but it all changed with secession.

With that unfolding John Logan left Washington and went home and over family and friend objection and rejection, ensured that southern Illinois did not secede.

Pledged personal loyalty to Lincoln, and raised, and as a colonel commanded, an IL regiment became a favorite of Grant.

He was a wounded war hero.

Rose to the rank of major general, beloved by his men.

After the war, he went back to Washington as a Republican congressman and later Senator, and a Vice-Presidential candidate.

He died suddenly in 1886 as a result of old war wound complications.

But not before as Commander of the union veterans' group "The grand Army of the Republic' issuing in 1868 the famous General Order 11, establishing Decoration Day Memorial Day as the 30th of May.

In that year, Washington D.C.

saw General, now President Grant, officiate at Arlington and oversee the strewing of flowers on Union and Confederate graves along with speeches and and other moments to mark the occasion.

After WW1 Decoration Day officially became Memorial day.

It remained May 30th until act of congress in 1971 moved the day to the last Monday in May.

Still, solemnly observed by most Americans, if only in brief ceremony, it is central to American History and regard for our war dead.

Technical Sergeant Ohlson's music captures the sorrow, the pathos the hard-won glory and the utter reliance one to another known to those who have known combat.

They know of death and loss but differently than families who carry the sorrow for a lifetime and strive to understand and be proud.

Come now with me to Washington D.C.

and let's go to our capitol city where the veterans are held in statutory and memorial esteem.

It's on the mall that we find them, the World War 2 veterans and commemorating their service .

the service of the greatest generation.

Although one would hope our finest days are still ahead.

And they would echo that thought.

Moving to the Korean Memorial, they know the realities of the long march and the weather, the cold.

The so-called 'forgotten war'.

Not forgotten here.

And then Vietnam Wall.

it gets very personal now.

Many years ago on a drizzling grey dawn morning I first dared to visit the wall.

I was on an early morning jog down from Fort Meyer Hill and slowing to a respectful walk, I started cautiously down the path and up ahead, a bushy looking guy in a field jacket clinging to a woman, their hands on the wall and as I neared heard their sobbing.

Edging by trying not to disturb, he he turned and with glistening eyes asked "Were you there man?"

"Were you there?"

"I was there."

I replied.

I replied.

Then with his nod and mine, we parted.

Left them, and me to private moments.

Later, I recall crossing the Potomac over the Memorial Bridge behind the Lincoln Memorial and making my way up that long climb up the Fort Meyer hill It's a hard walk.

Harder run.

But made even harder because of Arlington.

drawing you in-its all around you on the left as you go up the hill.

properly so it draws you in .

So much of American history and sacrifice is resident there Presidents and Generals, Admirals to Captains and Majors.

Sergeants and Privates, all who have earned the right to be eternally honored at our National Cemetery.

We visit now President Kennedy's eternal flame.

He was the first President to speak at an Air Force Academy graduation and willingly became the only honorary member of the Class of '63.

That's my class.

And, in truth President Kennedy was our first combat loss.

The stories of service and sacrifice echo in the wind here and drape the markers with memories.

None are so moving as the overpowering tomb of the unknowns.

Here with constant vigil, a grateful nation ensures we remember, ensures we care.

And always with bowed heads we do.

Now, with new resolution as Americans, we take our leave.

And march out across our country.

Fortified by the experience, we march out to our homes and families across the land.

Arlington We are Americans.

And we thank you.

And now lets go back home to the Air Force Academy.

I was here when the Chapel was still under construction.

It leaked.

And we didn't know whether to pray in it, to it or for it.

Now, after 57 years, it's leaking again, and undergoing renovation.

Shrouded, it seems appropriate this Memorial Day, appropriate to the solemnity required of the day, the rightful melancholy, the whisper of the wind across the terrazzo.

No matter how long away, it is always a coming home, though the ranks are thinning more quickly now, the more than 50,000 graduates carry a spirit of service that is life long.

And properly so.

No one, to quote a wartime president, is truly whole until they are committed outside of self.

We learned that here, and prize the right to pursue our nations' interests.

We are Americans.

Surely, while very special, that thought is not unique to the Air Force Academy.

Well intentioned citizens all over this land have the same ethos, the strong mooring points that same commitment to and respect for service.

As a POW alone and in semi-isolation, much of the time we all sought humor and laughter even, tapping through the walls to help ward off the years of brutal reality and separation, clinging to the need to survive but survive with honor.

we wanted you to be proud of us.

We crave Memorial Day meaning.

We find it in the land, find it in the soul of our nation affirming that we're a good people, a better people because we know what it takes to preserve those freedoms and we are we are grateful.

Grateful for this nation of plenty, this nation of value and opportunity.

That is the reward for the unending tasks given to us and given to past generations, And knowing that future generations must carry on and advance our flag.

earn our way, and be worthy of American history and heritage.

We are Americans.

We are Americans.

We Keep Marching.

Thanks so much for being with us this Memorial Day.

♪ Music