My friends, I have been watching the ceremony at point Du Hoc. It is extremely hard for me to hold back the tears thinking of this most hallowed ground where the sentinels of freedom lay and forever keep watch. It is emotional for me because my step-father, a man that I just called Dad, had a greatly positive influence on my life, was laid to rest in April of this year. He was a WWII veteran. He was not a veteran of the Normandy invasion but he was a representative of that generation that not only was willing to lay down their lives for freedom but was willing to kill for freedom. Not to say that any of the two are easy but dying for ones beliefs is the easier part of the two. Killing for ones beliefs is much harder. Soldiers have to be trained to kill; they don’t have to be trained to die. This fact is proven to be true in any conflict with stories of men and women laying down their lives to save the lives of their fellow soldiers. As it is written, “No greater love is there than this, that a man lay down his life for a friend” (Jesus Christ). I consider myself flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, not by biology but by love, honor and commitment. He served his community as a small claims court judge for 45 years and accomplished many great things. Among all of his accomplishments, to me the greatest and most profound was that he loved my mother. To me, that makes him one of the greatest Americans and in a way it taught me how to love my own wife of 35 years. Be not confused, my own father is an equally great American and I love him with every fiber of my heart. I want you to know that I had two great men to raise me and I consider myself most favored by God for it. It was my step-father that came to me and said that he was not a replacement for my father and I was to love and honor him always but that he just wanted me to meet him half way. As a 13 year old caught at the crossroads of leaving boyhood and stepping onto the path of manhood this was a profound statement to me because it showed me and gave me the permission to have two men within my heart existing side by side and I believe I am the better man for it. This is a debt I cannot repay but neither man has ever kept a tally and neither will I as long as I draw breath upon this earth.

            I tell you all this to come to this point, our world has changed. The Queen of England was not invited to ceremony at point Du Hoc this year and why? She represents the generation that I have been speaking about, the generation that not only was willing to die for their beliefs but were willing to kill for them. They were even willing to send others to their deaths for the sake of freedom and I tell you that was no easy task. I say that it was not easy because they had to live with the ghosts of their decisions but had the fortitude to do so for the greater good of all so their children could live in the sweet embrace of freedom without fear. We are those children I speak of. Now take a look at the elected leaders assembled at point Du Hoc today. Do you think they share the same qualities of the men who stormed the Normandy beaches and the Queen of England? And what does it say about the people who elected them?

Aubry McKoon