Black (podium): “Those names that we carry in our hearts …”
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.
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 today at the Montrose campus.
