Medals of Honor

A post for yesterday….

I had the immense privilege to attend an event at the Medal of Honor Society Convention last night.  It was an intensely patriotic event that ended up lasting almost four hours.  The fun part for me was that Dave’s band played towards the end.

Abraham Lincoln apparently was President when the Congressional Medal of Honor was created.  He gave an important and historic speech that day.  He visited this evening’s celebration to repeat his memorable words.

One of the Medal of Honor Recipients arrived in style.  He is 80 years old and looking for adventure in his twilight years.  His entrance involved a Superman costume and a zip line…

Our narrator….well….we were in good hands.

My favorite part of the program that did not involve my sweetheart was Sammy Davis’  speech.  Sammy Davis, aka Forrest Gump, is a Medal of Honor Recipient who really knows how to engage the audience with a story.  He told the story of learning to play the harmonica.  It is probably on You-See-It-Again-Tube if you want to hear it.  It is the story of learning to play Shenandoah.  Then he played.  It was truly emotional, and really lovely.

Tony Orlando was a co host!!  He was awesome!  He really knows how to work a crowd and get people excited and involved.  I was super impressed.  So we were all tying yellow ribbons ’round old oak trees!

At different intervals in the evening there were actors to tell the story of five different Medal of Honor Recipients.  Dakota Meyer’s story was the last and was so moving.  Dave got to shake his hand.  I wish I could have met him.

The evening’s festivities began at 7:30pm.  Dave’s band finally took the stage at 10:50pm.  So not kidding.  Well, they sort of took the stage.  They almost made it to the stage.  They were on the floor in front of the stage.

I think Dave had fun rocking out!  I had fun taking tons of pictures!!

All in all a terrific evening.  There were many quote-ables, one of my favorites was “A country that does not honor its heroes will not long endure”.  Here’s to the heroes.  Here’s to my personal hero.

Hope your weekend is filled with the privilege of freedom!