The Wells Report

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The Wells Report

On NewsTalk 660 KSKY—Dallas/Ft. Worth

Speech for: City of North Richland Hills Veterans Day Celebration

November 11, 2011
We gather today to honor the quiet heroes who, every day, stand like the Sentinels they are, and always have been…The protectors, and guardians of the United States of America...

Veterans Days started as Armistice Day…The day marking the end of World War I. The Armistice was signed inside a rail carriage in the Compiegne Forest at the 11th Hour, of the 11th Day, of the 11th Month.

In John 15:13, it is written that: “…Greater love has no one than this…that he lay down his life for his friends….”

While this is certainly true, what can and must be said, especially on this day…Is that the second greatest gift must surely be given by those who have taken up the Uniform, and have made the solemn offer to lay down their lives for our sake, and for the sake of these United States of America….

They are standing with you now…Look to your left and right, and know that without them, we would be someplace else today…A place less safe…A place less free…A place bereft of Liberty…

The United States Army was created on 14JUNE1775, by the Continental Congress. General George Washington and his men gave us this Country first…defeating the British and their allies time after time until we were free. Today, the US Army is quite simply the greatest army in world history.

Next came the United States Navy…created through enterprise, audacity and stealth on 13OCTOBER1775. Politicians of the day declared that that even the thought of creating a sea-going force of challenge to the Mighty British Navy was a fool’s errand…a waste of the precious and few resources of this new nation.

General Washington knew better…and did what he had to do to…He took command of 3 fast ships, and gave us a Navy.

Today, the US Navy is the long, unchallengeable arm of projected power of this nation. Thanks to their ancient heritage of enterprise, audacity, and stealth, no other sea-going force comes close…No other sea-going force ever will.

Fittingly, the United States Marine Corps came to be inside Tunn’s Tavern in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 10NOVEMBER1775. Captain Samuel Nicholas formed two battalions of Continental Marines, then stood with a tankard of ale…toasted the future of new Corps, and then passed out. Marine Corp NCO’s have been running the Marines ever since. Today, when the chips are down, and victory hangs in the balance…America calls on her Devil Dogs…and awaits the now famous words, “The Marines have landed…the situation is well in hand.”

In the early days of the 20th Century, the War Department looked to the air, and realized the United States needed to control it. As a part of the US Army, the Air Corps came of age in World War II, flying into clouds of steel rain, in broad daylight, sundering the Axis Powers into helplessness. Then on 18SEPTEMBER1947…just in time for the Cold War, the United States Air Force came to be as a service unto itself. Today, the wild blue yonder is its exclusive property….Nothing will, or can stop the US Air Force.

The United States Coast Guard was created as the United States Revenue Cutter Service by the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury; Alexander Hamilton, on 4AUGUST1790. Coast Guard Cutters have been guarding this country’s coastlines ever since, and today, represents the leading edge of the War on Drugs. Thanks to the Coast Guard, Americans also have safe waterways, and 10’s of thousands mariners owe their lives to the dauntless men and women who have sailed and flown into raging seas to save them.

Who are the Veterans here? Who here served in:
• The Revolutionary War

• The Civil War

• World War I

• World War II

• The Korean War

• The Vietnam War

• Grenada

• Panama

• Gulf War One

• Somalia

• Kosovo

• Iraq War

• Afghanistan

• The Cold War

God Blessed them with the Courage to take up arms in defense of this nation. God blessed this land with these Sentinels who stepped forward to protect us.

And so we stand today, on this 11th Day, of the 11th Month, at the 11th Hour to thank all those who have worn these Uniforms of Service, Pride and Valor…The guarantors of Freedom and Liberty…The Veterans of America’s Armed Services.

Veterans….Thank you for our Country… Thank You for The United States of America.