“Today,” said Cadet Lt. Col. William Ulrich, the battalion commander of the corps of cadets at Fishburne Military School, “will produce its share of veterans, as will tomorrow and every day after that.”
Ulrich and fellow cadets paid tribute to veterans on Friday during a special Veterans Day ceremony that included a solemn reading of the names of the dozens of FMS alums who gave their lives in defense of their country.
“The veterans who came before us have made our country free and have kept it that way for over 234 years,” said Brig. Gen. William Phillips, the assistant adjutant general of the Virginia Army National Guard, who served as keynote speaker for Friday’s ceremony.
“Whether at Yorktown, the beaches at Normandy, the mountains of Korea, the rice paddies of Vietnam, the desert of Kuwait, or the cities and countrysides of iraq and Afghanistan, they had the courage to step forward and give their lives so that others could be free,” Phillips said.
And that continues and will continue with today’s generation and beyond, as was made evident by the remarks of Ulrich, quoting a well-known passage from Gen. George S. Patton.
“No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country,” Ulrich said, echoing Patton.
More FMS news online at FishburneTimesConnect.org.
Share
AFP
