In his inaugural address on January 20, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower stood before the nation he was elected to lead in a growing cold war and made the statement, "Americans, indeed, all free men, remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains."
This week we honor the burden America’s veterans have carried from the great conflicts of the Twentieth Century through today’s War on Terror. This year we pause to note their sacrifice in the shadow of the senseless killings at Fort Hood, Texas. We must keep those fallen soldiers and their families in our prayers.
On this Veterans’ Day, I join with my fellow Tennesseans to say thank you to the men and women who have selflessly given of themselves to defend the liberties many of us take for granted. Our ability to live in freedom, without fear of persecution is directly derived from the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that stand between free Americans and those who would threaten our nation every day and those who served their nation in war and peace to keep America a shining beacon to the world.
There can be no higher purpose for our government than the defense of our nation. Likewise there should be no higher calling for us as a free people than to honor those who make that defense possible. Whether that is by ensuring our veterans have the best medical care, providing opportunities for them when their service has concluded or by just saying thank you. They made it their duty to defend us. We should make it our duty, everyday – not just each November 11, to honor them.
So as we celebrate another Veterans’ Day this year, let us never forget the burden they carried so we never live in a nation bound by prisoner’s chains.
Robin Smith
Hixson
Candidate for Congress
robin@robinfortennessee.com