This is my 19th Veterans Day Program and I hope to come to many more. However, I am running out of grandchildren.

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.

She has been running very well.

I should have went a little further rather than stopping here, but I'm running a little late, so I just stopped here.

This Veterans Day, my mind returns again and again to a flight I took home from Baghdad in August -- and an unforgettable reminder of the obligation we have to all who serve the country we love. As we boarded the C-130, I looked into the cargo hold and saw a simple, aluminum coffin with a small American flag draped over it. We were bringing another American soldier home to his family and final resting place.

Memorial Day is the occasion this nation sets aside to remember, to grieve, and to honor those who chose or were compelled to sacrifice their lives in behalf of a cause they believed or were told was just. Those of us who have known war hear the cries of the dying forever echo in our minds and suffer the pain and loss each day of our lives. We need no holiday to remind us.