PORT ANGELES — Dozens of U.S. armed forces veterans stood to applause Tuesday morning as a band played the familiar songs of each branch of the military.
In the sea of hundreds of faces filling a Coast Guard hangar on Ediz Hook to celebrate Veterans Day, many of the men and women stood out in their veterans’ garrison caps.
“Today is your day,” retired Navy Rear Adm. Robert McClinton of Sequim told them. “Truth be told, all days are your days.”
His comments came during the annual Veterans Day community celebration at the Coast Guard air station, recognizing veterans on the North Olympic Peninsula and nationwide.
Music performed by Navy Band Northwest and two choral groups marked a morning full of military tradition, patriotism and talk of service to the United States.
McClinton, the keynote speaker, cited American troops’ current fights in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“If we do not mount and support a stand there against terrorism, then just where will we do so?” he said. “We are fighting terrorism today just where we should, where it lives and breathes.”
——————-
The rest of the story appears in the Wednesday Peninsula Daily News.