November 12, 2024 • 19 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Vince Benedetto delivers the awe-inspiring story of our first president.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, a
story from Vince Benedetto, a friend and a veteran and founder,
president and CEO of Bold Gold Media Group, which owns
and operates radio stations throughout Pennsylvania and New York. Today,
Vince shares with us the story of who he considers
to be America's first true superhero. Take it away, Vince.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Over the past several years, I've been invited to be
the Veterans Day speaker at area public high schools and
middle schools throughout northeast Pennsylvania. As a graduate of the
Air Force Academy and a former Air Force Captain and
OSA Special Agent, I'm frequently asked to speak at events
honoring our military. However, speaking to teenagers is an altogether
different and terrifying experience. During more typical speaking engagements, the
(01:12):
audience are there to hear what I have to say. Specifically,
speaking at a high school, well, they have to be there.
One's thoughts immediately go to how to say things differently
to them in a way that will connect, keep their attention,
and hopefully illuminate something that will contribute to their lives
during their most formidable years. In my most recent remarks,
(01:37):
I decided to go big to challenge the very notions,
whatever they may be, of why they should even care
at all about our veterans preceding my remarks, and to
set the mood, I asked that a short clip from
Ronald Reagan's first inaugural address be played. It's the part
where the newly sworn in president is essentially giving his
audience a tour of the Washington Mall. He's pointing out
(01:58):
the major monuments, presenting the giants from our history.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
At the end of this open mall.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we
stand directly in front of me.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
A monument to a monumental.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Man, George Washington, father of our country, a man of
humility who came to greatness.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Reluctantly those to Washington, to Jefferson, and to Lincoln. But
shortly after he turns his attention to those quote sloping
hills just beyond, you know, to Arlington National Cemetery.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
With its row upon row of simple white markers bearing
crosses or stars of David. They add up to only
a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid
for our freedom.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
From amongst those thousands upon thousands of white markers, he
resurrect the story of Martin Trepptel.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Under one such marker lies a young man who left
his job in a small town barber shop in nineteen
seventeen to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
There on the Western.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Front, he was killed trying to carry a message between
battalions under heavy artillery fire.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
On his person was found a diary under the words
my pledge. Martin had written these.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Words, America must win this war.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice,
I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my
utmost as if the issue of the whole struggle depended
on me alone.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Strikingly, during this tender moment of his remark and in
front of the whole world, Reagan's voice cracks as he's
fighting back tears during the telling of this remarkable young hero.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
So upon the.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Completion of this clip, the hundreds of teens in the
audience are paying attention, some even have some tears in
their eyes, along with nearly all of the teachers in attendance.
Now that I feel the mood has been said. It's
my turn to begin my Veterans' Day remarks, and I
ask them some blunt questions that surprise them. I ask,
why do we celebrate our military and our veterans? Why
(04:33):
do you even care that I am a veteran? And
for that matter, why do we honor and celebrate Armed
Forces Day and Memorial Day? I probe them for some
audience participation, and a few hands go up. Some of
the students answer with, quote, they serve their country, quote
our military protects our freedom, and freedom isn't free. And
(04:54):
I'm pleased with these responses, as they are all excellent
answers to my questions. I then ask another question. I
ask who here has seen an American soldier in uniform?
Every hand in the room goes up, every single one.
I ask, well, what did you feel when you saw
(05:15):
those soldiers in uniform? And I kind of prod them
to shout out some answers, and some said pride, patriotism, safety.
I proceed with my line of questioning, so I say,
who here has seen an American soldier and felt afraid?
Not one hand goes up, but I prod them a
(05:35):
little more. I say, no, one I mean, our soldiers
are very powerful people. They are trained to fight, they
have guns. No one here has ever felt fear in
their hearts upon seeing a uniform American soldier, and still
not one hand was raised. And at that moment I
tell them, I said, this, this is why we celebrate
(06:00):
Veteran's Day. This is why we celebrate our military in America.
And I share with them that in much of the world,
people do not celebrate their military. They fear it. In
much of the world, the military is viewed as a
tool of the government to oppress them, not to serve them.
I tell them that in order to understand all this,
we need to have a short American history lesson. I
(06:23):
asked them to imagine the world as it was on
July third, seventeen seventy six. At this time, everyone alive
on the planet lived under some form of a dictatorship.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
But on July.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Fourth, seventeen seventy six, it all changed. Suddenly, Americans had
declared their independence, and more importantly, Americans had declared that
they were free. However, this still did not fully answer
the question of why we do not fear our military
in America. To understand this, I told them we would
have to turn to a person who is often considered
(07:02):
our first American soldier and a real life superhero, George Washington.
To Washington in seventeen seventy five, having been appointed as
the commander in chief of the Continental Army, and I
reminded them, this is an army that for the most
part didn't even exist at that moment, had the enormous
(07:22):
task of building and leading a fighting force against the
British Empire, the most powerful military force in the world
at that time. As I began to share with them
the story of General George Washington. On the screen behind
me was an image of Washington's command flag during the
American Revolution, as an early testament to his brilliant leadership instincts.
The flag has thirteen equally sized, six pointed white stars
(07:46):
against the blue field. Washington well understood the parochial and
rivalrous mindset of those who would now need to unite
under seemingly impossible odds. In the eighteenth century, most Americans
never traveled outside of their city, let alone their state.
I told him his battle flag did not represent him,
it represented them as a soldier in this new army
(08:07):
under this bold Virginian as they marched into battle behind him.
Whether you were from a small state or one of
the large states, you knew that one of those stars
on his flag represented you and your home. I asked
these young kids, I said, to further, try and imagine
something else. To imagine that after the war, having won
our independence, George Washington was now one of the most
(08:29):
famous people in the world, throughout not only Britain, but
also the halls of Europe. It was assumed that Washington
would now become a king in America. This was just
the way it always had been. The general of the
victorious army becomes the new ruler. It was of course
assumed by King George the Third, who reportedly believed that
the Americans were merely changing quote one King George for another.
(08:51):
The King, having learned that Washington was to resign his
commission and return to his home at Mount Vernon, believed
Washington was the greatest man in the world and the
greatest character of the age.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And when we come back more from Vince Benedetto on
the story of George Washington, here on our American stories.
(10:09):
And we returned to our American stories when we last
left off, Vince Benedetto was tasked with telling a group
of school students why we respect and love our veterans
here in this country. He mentioned that to understand why,
we have to look back to who, and that's to
George Washington. Let's continue with the story.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I then asked the students to travel with me in
their minds to another moment and place and time in
the final days of the Revolutionary War, to Newburgh, New York,
seventeen eighty three. The new nation was financially struggling and
the Congress was unable to meet its payment obligations to
the Continental Army. This was leading to severe unrest amongst
the officers and soldiers. A plan was actually hatched amongst
(10:56):
some high ranking officers to use the military to take
over or threatened the government until their demands were met. However,
one indispensable man would stand in their way, George Washington.
Learning of the growing plans within his army, Washington called
for a meeting of his officers at their headquarters in Newburgh.
(11:17):
Washington indicated that he would not himself be in attendance,
essentially deferring to the commander below him, General Horatio Gates,
therefore started off the meeting, feeding into the growing frenzy
for hostile action against the Congress. Suddenly, General Washington walked
into the room and took command of the events in progress.
(11:38):
Many of the officers had not seen the general for
some time. They noticed that he had aged, and the
General then did something profound. He explained to them that
this was the moment at the end of the war
where their example was most important. Washington told them they
were men of honor, and this precious moment would require
(11:58):
their greatest patriot to in virtue. In essence, this was
their ultimate test. Washington then assured them he was working
on their behalf to resolve their grievances. He pulled a
letter from Congress out of his vest. He began to
read it to them, but his eyesight was failing him
and he was struggling to see the letter. Perhaps sensing
(12:19):
his officers noticed this moment of vulnerability, he paused. He
then reached into his pocket and pulled out his eyeglasses.
The general then looked solemnly at his military family and
said to them, gentlemen, you must pardon me, for I
have not only grown gray, but almost blind in service
(12:40):
to my country. By all accounts. At that very moment
the coup was over, there were tears in the eyes
of his officers. They loved their general, and Washington, who
himself had sacrificed so much, and who at all times
had placed the principles for which they thought above himself,
was holding true, and his example at that moment became
(13:02):
their example. Once again, Washington had saved the revolution. Later
that same year, Washington would do what the whole of
the world doubted would ever have been done. On December
twenty third, seventeen eighty three, one of the greatest days
in recorded history, General George Washington, the most popular and
(13:22):
powerful person in the United States, resigned his commission before
the Continental Congress and returned to his home at Mount Vernon.
The world was stunned. This had not and does not
happen until now. Of course, this would not even be
the last time Washington would willingly walk away from power,
(13:43):
when he later went on to be our first president.
The rulers of other nations again assumed he would serve
until his death, But once again Washington defied the forces
of history and of human nature, and after his second term,
he stepped away and retired again to his beloved Mount Vernon.
(14:04):
Sensing that the students were gaining a new respect for
their history and the father of our country, I desired
to make some final points about what underlines this sense
of trust and love that Americans have for our veterans.
I shared with them that every American who joins our
armed forces takes an oath. Of course, taking an oath
prior to joining a military is not all that special,
(14:25):
But the oath we take to join the American military
is very, very different. I explained to them that in
our oath, our soldiers do something quite peculiar. We swear
an oath not to the president or the government, and
not even to the country itself. We swear an oath
to a certain thing, the Constitution. I pointed out the
(14:50):
historical significance and beauty of swearing to quote, support and
defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies
foreign and domestic. Again, we as Americans sense and feel
that our military is not to be feared, but loved,
for they are a powerful force that represents our rights
as Americans. Our sense that government serves the people and
(15:13):
not the other way around as commonplace. But I had
to tell them throughout most of the world and throughout
almost all of history, this was not the case. What
we have here in America is quite miraculous, and all
of this would not be if not for George Washington.
(15:36):
It was George Washington who defied the way of things.
It was George Washington who enabled the feeling that our
military represents the entirety of the nation. It was George
Washington who started the tradition of the military being subservient
to the people's elected civilian representatives. It was George Washington
who had unwavering fidelity to representative government and our eventual
(15:58):
constitutional order. It was George Washington who successfully was able
to help the American people transfer their love and trust
in him into faithfulness to our constitution and its principles.
It was George Washington who said, quote, the Constitution is
the guide which I never will abandon. It was George
(16:19):
Washington who, more than any other American, was able to
get the people to begin to look beyond their parochial
visions and to think continentally as a union. It was
George Washington who showed us the virtue of the powerful
being the servants of the people, and not the other
way around. Upon Washington's death, John Adams wrote, quote, his
(16:41):
example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and
virtue to magistrates, citizens and men, not only in the
present age, but in future generations. As long as our
history shall be read. It was always Washington. He was
America's rock upon which our nation could be built. He
is America's real life superhero. So why do we honor
(17:10):
and celebrate our veterans and our military. I pose this
question to them again. We celebrate them because they have
fought and stand ready to fight, not just to defend
us here and now the living, but also for all
future generations. They defend our important traditions and customs that
must go on if individual liberty is to go on.
(17:30):
We honor our veterans because they signed on the dotted
line to defend with their very lives if necessary, the
idea that, as Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address,
government of the people, by the people, and for the people,
shall not perish from the earth. And it is true
that without America the world would be a very very
dark place. Without the American soldier, without our veterans, civilization,
(17:55):
at least civilizations we know it would have perished, the
light of individual liberty would have long since been extinguished.
It has frequently been remarked, I told them that the
words of Thomas Jefferson would mean little without the sword
of George Washington. Stated similarly, all of the words of liberty, freedom,
and American exceptionalism would not be without the heroes who
(18:18):
defended it all. And every person who joins the American
Armed Forces takes that oath and they become part of
the long unbroken line of military service in America that
began with George Washington. To today we can trace it
(18:41):
all back to our real life superhero George Washington.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And a special thanks to Monty Montgomery for producing the piece.
A Hillsdale graduate and a proud one, and a special
thanks to Vince Benedetto, who built a Hillsdale radio station.
And if ever in Central Michigan visit Hillsdale College, you
will be so impressed. The words of Thomas Jefferson would
have meant little without the sword of George Washington. And
(19:11):
today we celebrate, as Vince put it, the long unbroken
line of civilian military service and heroism to defend freedom,
not just here but across the globe. On our American stories,
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, a
story from Vince Benedetto, a friend and a veteran and founder,
president and CEO of Bold Gold Media Group, which owns
and operates radio stations throughout Pennsylvania and New York. Today,
Vince shares with us the story of who he considers
to be America's first true superhero. Take it away, Vince.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Over the past several years, I've been invited to be
the Veterans Day speaker at area public high schools and
middle schools throughout northeast Pennsylvania. As a graduate of the
Air Force Academy and a former Air Force Captain and
OSA Special Agent, I'm frequently asked to speak at events
honoring our military. However, speaking to teenagers is an altogether
different and terrifying experience. During more typical speaking engagements, the
(01:12):
audience are there to hear what I have to say. Specifically,
speaking at a high school, well, they have to be there.
One's thoughts immediately go to how to say things differently
to them in a way that will connect, keep their attention,
and hopefully illuminate something that will contribute to their lives
during their most formidable years. In my most recent remarks,
(01:37):
I decided to go big to challenge the very notions,
whatever they may be, of why they should even care
at all about our veterans preceding my remarks, and to
set the mood, I asked that a short clip from
Ronald Reagan's first inaugural address be played. It's the part
where the newly sworn in president is essentially giving his
audience a tour of the Washington Mall. He's pointing out
(01:58):
the major monuments, presenting the giants from our history.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
At the end of this open mall.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we
stand directly in front of me.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
A monument to a monumental.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Man, George Washington, father of our country, a man of
humility who came to greatness.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Reluctantly those to Washington, to Jefferson, and to Lincoln. But
shortly after he turns his attention to those quote sloping
hills just beyond, you know, to Arlington National Cemetery.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
With its row upon row of simple white markers bearing
crosses or stars of David. They add up to only
a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid
for our freedom.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
From amongst those thousands upon thousands of white markers, he
resurrect the story of Martin Trepptel.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Under one such marker lies a young man who left
his job in a small town barber shop in nineteen
seventeen to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
There on the Western.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Front, he was killed trying to carry a message between
battalions under heavy artillery fire.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
On his person was found a diary under the words
my pledge. Martin had written these.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Words, America must win this war.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice,
I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my
utmost as if the issue of the whole struggle depended
on me alone.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Strikingly, during this tender moment of his remark and in
front of the whole world, Reagan's voice cracks as he's
fighting back tears during the telling of this remarkable young hero.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
So upon the.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Completion of this clip, the hundreds of teens in the
audience are paying attention, some even have some tears in
their eyes, along with nearly all of the teachers in attendance.
Now that I feel the mood has been said. It's
my turn to begin my Veterans' Day remarks, and I
ask them some blunt questions that surprise them. I ask,
why do we celebrate our military and our veterans? Why
(04:33):
do you even care that I am a veteran? And
for that matter, why do we honor and celebrate Armed
Forces Day and Memorial Day? I probe them for some
audience participation, and a few hands go up. Some of
the students answer with, quote, they serve their country, quote
our military protects our freedom, and freedom isn't free. And
(04:54):
I'm pleased with these responses, as they are all excellent
answers to my questions. I then ask another question. I
ask who here has seen an American soldier in uniform?
Every hand in the room goes up, every single one.
I ask, well, what did you feel when you saw
(05:15):
those soldiers in uniform? And I kind of prod them
to shout out some answers, and some said pride, patriotism, safety.
I proceed with my line of questioning, so I say,
who here has seen an American soldier and felt afraid?
Not one hand goes up, but I prod them a
(05:35):
little more. I say, no, one I mean, our soldiers
are very powerful people. They are trained to fight, they
have guns. No one here has ever felt fear in
their hearts upon seeing a uniform American soldier, and still
not one hand was raised. And at that moment I
tell them, I said, this, this is why we celebrate
(06:00):
Veteran's Day. This is why we celebrate our military in America.
And I share with them that in much of the world,
people do not celebrate their military. They fear it. In
much of the world, the military is viewed as a
tool of the government to oppress them, not to serve them.
I tell them that in order to understand all this,
we need to have a short American history lesson. I
(06:23):
asked them to imagine the world as it was on
July third, seventeen seventy six. At this time, everyone alive
on the planet lived under some form of a dictatorship.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
But on July.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Fourth, seventeen seventy six, it all changed. Suddenly, Americans had
declared their independence, and more importantly, Americans had declared that
they were free. However, this still did not fully answer
the question of why we do not fear our military
in America. To understand this, I told them we would
have to turn to a person who is often considered
(07:02):
our first American soldier and a real life superhero, George Washington.
To Washington in seventeen seventy five, having been appointed as
the commander in chief of the Continental Army, and I
reminded them, this is an army that for the most
part didn't even exist at that moment, had the enormous
(07:22):
task of building and leading a fighting force against the
British Empire, the most powerful military force in the world
at that time. As I began to share with them
the story of General George Washington. On the screen behind
me was an image of Washington's command flag during the
American Revolution, as an early testament to his brilliant leadership instincts.
The flag has thirteen equally sized, six pointed white stars
(07:46):
against the blue field. Washington well understood the parochial and
rivalrous mindset of those who would now need to unite
under seemingly impossible odds. In the eighteenth century, most Americans
never traveled outside of their city, let alone their state.
I told him his battle flag did not represent him,
it represented them as a soldier in this new army
(08:07):
under this bold Virginian as they marched into battle behind him.
Whether you were from a small state or one of
the large states, you knew that one of those stars
on his flag represented you and your home. I asked
these young kids, I said, to further, try and imagine
something else. To imagine that after the war, having won
our independence, George Washington was now one of the most
(08:29):
famous people in the world, throughout not only Britain, but
also the halls of Europe. It was assumed that Washington
would now become a king in America. This was just
the way it always had been. The general of the
victorious army becomes the new ruler. It was of course
assumed by King George the Third, who reportedly believed that
the Americans were merely changing quote one King George for another.
(08:51):
The King, having learned that Washington was to resign his
commission and return to his home at Mount Vernon, believed
Washington was the greatest man in the world and the
greatest character of the age.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And when we come back more from Vince Benedetto on
the story of George Washington, here on our American stories.
(10:09):
And we returned to our American stories when we last
left off, Vince Benedetto was tasked with telling a group
of school students why we respect and love our veterans
here in this country. He mentioned that to understand why,
we have to look back to who, and that's to
George Washington. Let's continue with the story.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I then asked the students to travel with me in
their minds to another moment and place and time in
the final days of the Revolutionary War, to Newburgh, New York,
seventeen eighty three. The new nation was financially struggling and
the Congress was unable to meet its payment obligations to
the Continental Army. This was leading to severe unrest amongst
the officers and soldiers. A plan was actually hatched amongst
(10:56):
some high ranking officers to use the military to take
over or threatened the government until their demands were met. However,
one indispensable man would stand in their way, George Washington.
Learning of the growing plans within his army, Washington called
for a meeting of his officers at their headquarters in Newburgh.
(11:17):
Washington indicated that he would not himself be in attendance,
essentially deferring to the commander below him, General Horatio Gates,
therefore started off the meeting, feeding into the growing frenzy
for hostile action against the Congress. Suddenly, General Washington walked
into the room and took command of the events in progress.
(11:38):
Many of the officers had not seen the general for
some time. They noticed that he had aged, and the
General then did something profound. He explained to them that
this was the moment at the end of the war
where their example was most important. Washington told them they
were men of honor, and this precious moment would require
(11:58):
their greatest patriot to in virtue. In essence, this was
their ultimate test. Washington then assured them he was working
on their behalf to resolve their grievances. He pulled a
letter from Congress out of his vest. He began to
read it to them, but his eyesight was failing him
and he was struggling to see the letter. Perhaps sensing
(12:19):
his officers noticed this moment of vulnerability, he paused. He
then reached into his pocket and pulled out his eyeglasses.
The general then looked solemnly at his military family and
said to them, gentlemen, you must pardon me, for I
have not only grown gray, but almost blind in service
(12:40):
to my country. By all accounts. At that very moment
the coup was over, there were tears in the eyes
of his officers. They loved their general, and Washington, who
himself had sacrificed so much, and who at all times
had placed the principles for which they thought above himself,
was holding true, and his example at that moment became
(13:02):
their example. Once again, Washington had saved the revolution. Later
that same year, Washington would do what the whole of
the world doubted would ever have been done. On December
twenty third, seventeen eighty three, one of the greatest days
in recorded history, General George Washington, the most popular and
(13:22):
powerful person in the United States, resigned his commission before
the Continental Congress and returned to his home at Mount Vernon.
The world was stunned. This had not and does not
happen until now. Of course, this would not even be
the last time Washington would willingly walk away from power,
(13:43):
when he later went on to be our first president.
The rulers of other nations again assumed he would serve
until his death, But once again Washington defied the forces
of history and of human nature, and after his second term,
he stepped away and retired again to his beloved Mount Vernon.
(14:04):
Sensing that the students were gaining a new respect for
their history and the father of our country, I desired
to make some final points about what underlines this sense
of trust and love that Americans have for our veterans.
I shared with them that every American who joins our
armed forces takes an oath. Of course, taking an oath
prior to joining a military is not all that special,
(14:25):
But the oath we take to join the American military
is very, very different. I explained to them that in
our oath, our soldiers do something quite peculiar. We swear
an oath not to the president or the government, and
not even to the country itself. We swear an oath
to a certain thing, the Constitution. I pointed out the
(14:50):
historical significance and beauty of swearing to quote, support and
defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies
foreign and domestic. Again, we as Americans sense and feel
that our military is not to be feared, but loved,
for they are a powerful force that represents our rights
as Americans. Our sense that government serves the people and
(15:13):
not the other way around as commonplace. But I had
to tell them throughout most of the world and throughout
almost all of history, this was not the case. What
we have here in America is quite miraculous, and all
of this would not be if not for George Washington.
(15:36):
It was George Washington who defied the way of things.
It was George Washington who enabled the feeling that our
military represents the entirety of the nation. It was George
Washington who started the tradition of the military being subservient
to the people's elected civilian representatives. It was George Washington
who had unwavering fidelity to representative government and our eventual
(15:58):
constitutional order. It was George Washington who successfully was able
to help the American people transfer their love and trust
in him into faithfulness to our constitution and its principles.
It was George Washington who said, quote, the Constitution is
the guide which I never will abandon. It was George
(16:19):
Washington who, more than any other American, was able to
get the people to begin to look beyond their parochial
visions and to think continentally as a union. It was
George Washington who showed us the virtue of the powerful
being the servants of the people, and not the other
way around. Upon Washington's death, John Adams wrote, quote, his
(16:41):
example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and
virtue to magistrates, citizens and men, not only in the
present age, but in future generations. As long as our
history shall be read. It was always Washington. He was
America's rock upon which our nation could be built. He
is America's real life superhero. So why do we honor
(17:10):
and celebrate our veterans and our military. I pose this
question to them again. We celebrate them because they have
fought and stand ready to fight, not just to defend
us here and now the living, but also for all
future generations. They defend our important traditions and customs that
must go on if individual liberty is to go on.
(17:30):
We honor our veterans because they signed on the dotted
line to defend with their very lives if necessary, the
idea that, as Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address,
government of the people, by the people, and for the people,
shall not perish from the earth. And it is true
that without America the world would be a very very
dark place. Without the American soldier, without our veterans, civilization,
(17:55):
at least civilizations we know it would have perished, the
light of individual liberty would have long since been extinguished.
It has frequently been remarked, I told them that the
words of Thomas Jefferson would mean little without the sword
of George Washington. Stated similarly, all of the words of liberty, freedom,
and American exceptionalism would not be without the heroes who
(18:18):
defended it all. And every person who joins the American
Armed Forces takes that oath and they become part of
the long unbroken line of military service in America that
began with George Washington. To today we can trace it
(18:41):
all back to our real life superhero George Washington.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And a special thanks to Monty Montgomery for producing the piece.
A Hillsdale graduate and a proud one, and a special
thanks to Vince Benedetto, who built a Hillsdale radio station.
And if ever in Central Michigan visit Hillsdale College, you
will be so impressed. The words of Thomas Jefferson would
have meant little without the sword of George Washington. And
(19:11):
today we celebrate, as Vince put it, the long unbroken
line of civilian military service and heroism to defend freedom,
not just here but across the globe. On our American stories,
Host
Lee Habeeb
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