WAPPINGERS FALLS – About 100 veterans and staff at the Castle Point
campus of the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System gathered on a sunny,
pleasant Wednesday morning to remember those who were not there. It was
one of several ceremonies that will lead up to Memorial Day next Monday.
Lt. Col. Frederick Black, Jr., who served in Iraq, adddresses
a Memorial Day ceremony
at the Castle Point VA hospital on Wednesday
Keynote speaker was Lt. Col. Frederick Black Jr., who served in Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn, and is now an assistant professor
of military history at his alma mater, the United States Military Academy.
Black spoke of five randomly selected heroes who gave their lives in service
to their nation.
“I just picked five names to share with you, based on the stories
that I use to talk with our cadets, but I’m positive that just about
everybody here could likely pick five names of importance to them, and
many of us, unfortunately, could fill a much longer list,” Black
said. “Those names that we carry in our hearts and in our heads
are what this day is all about. That’s Memorial Day.”
Black will also deliver the keynote during similar ceremony Thursday at
the Montrose campus.
