By Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske
Ogden City Council
Remember the Veterans Day Parade tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. We're told it's bigger and better this year! Last year's parade and memorial service at Lindquist Field were very touching and wonderful. We owe our blessed life style to these great men and women who left the comfort of their families' arms and their homes to fight our enemies, and to endure horrible hardships that we can't even imagine and to ensure that we enjoy our families and freedoms that others dream about. Join me in honoring them. The parade begins at 25th Street and Wall and goes east to Washington then north to 24th St. and west to Lincoln Ave. and Lindquist Field.
To all of you who are veterans, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and ask God to grant you special blessings. I will never be able to thank you enough or repay you for all that you've suffered and done to preserve our freedom and to keep this land the land of the free. Thank you again; and God bless you.
Update 11/11/07 8:55 a.m. MT: The Standard-Examiner's Tim Gurrister this morning provides a thorough writeup on yesterday's Veterans' Day parade and Lindquist Field ceremony. According to Mr. Gurrister's report, Boss Godfrey's public remarks appear to have been far more temperate and less self-centered than last year:
At the rally, Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey thanked the veterans assembled for their sacrifices, which he hoped a parade might honor.It's refreshing that Mayor Godfrey apparently realized that yesterday's Veterans' Day events were not all about him. Has Godfrey turned over a new leaf? We'll see.
He also said Ogden’s was probably Utah’s only Veterans Day parade. “If there’s another one, I’m not aware of it.”
And in further honor of our disabled American veterans, we link this stirring video, submitted by Frank Maughan, State Commander, Utah Military Order of the Purple Heart.
We'll close with this editorial cartoon, also submitted this morning by Frank Maughan. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words, we think:
21 comments:
Thanx, Dorrene, for your lovely remarks. I was asked this week what my favorite holidays are. Memorial Day and Veterans Day are at the top.
As I have noted here before....one of my brothers gave his life in Korea and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, which I am so happy to have visited in June.
My other brother served in Viet Nam, retired from the Marine Corp and is buried in the beautiful National Cemetery in Beaufort, SC.
My late husband served and was wounded in Korea...and several uncles served in WWII.
I salute our veterans. We never pass a soldier in uniform that we ask to shake their hands, thank them for wearing that uniform and let them know that we pray for them and their families daily.
I hope we hear from soldiers tomorrow, and not the mayor who bloviated last year. It is a day to honor America's vets, not listen to Godfrey go on and on as he did last year.
Thanks Doreeen. You are so sweet!
Dorrene
This is one veteran than thinks you're the bestest. In addition, you're about the only one on the council that seeks the truth and tells it like it is.
Thanks to you for having the cajones to represent the people of Ogden with integrity.
Hooray for you, Dorrene.
My uncle and namesake fought for our country in the Battle of the Bulge, and died in Korea.
I never knew him, and never had to serve myself, but I can't forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Dorrene:
On behalf of my Dad [US Army/OSS, Kunming, China, WWII] who passed away six years ago, thank you.
This is one area I completely agree with you on Rudi and I would have to agree that our veterans are the most courageous and heroic in the world. Thanks for starting this thread.
I also would like to extend a special thank you to the men and women who are currently defending our country on foreign soil.
It is because of their immeasurable sacrifices that we live in such a great country and that we can have political discussions and debates, such as these.
Please, please, please keep the political jabs out of this thread, I don't feel like they are appropriate in this discussion.
I don't think anyone here would disagree on the greatness of our veterans lets keep it to positive messages of thanks in honoring them.
Antilib....nice words...but if you attended last year, you will remember your mayor making it HIS moment. Very inappropriate. HE makes everything political. Sad. All he needed to do was wave and say thanx to the veterans and those who made the event possible. Period.
I truly mean no offense, especially in this thread, but your accusing him of making something political that shouldn't be and you can't seem to stop yourself from doing the same thing.
I wish I hadn't posted to try and express my thanks along with yours because my comments seem to polarize even something we all agree on and thats our great Veterans.
I will be there to honor all who have served, especially my father.
Sharon:
Elected officials, by right of their election by the people, are entirely appropriate presences, and prominent ones, at ceremonies honoring veterans. By right of their election, they on such occasions represent us all. Any elective office carries with it some ceremonial responsibilities which are generally, and ought always to be, non-partisan or a-political.
Thanks, Dorrene, for reminding us of the parade and memorial services. War is hell! We owe our military people so much for all that they do for us, and the least we can do is be at the parade to cheer for them and honor them.
BTW, thank you for the great job you are doing on the Council. We appreciate you for the battles that you fight for us. You're a great gal!
Because he wasn't tall enough to get in.
From this morning's SLTrib
"Gloria Berrett, county elections administrator, said Friday afternoon that she and County Clerk Alan McEwan, have decided to seek legal advice concerning the ballots. She declined to say why advice is being sought. However, election workers plan to continue working through today and on Monday, a legal holiday, to scrutinize provisional and absentee ballot envelopes. They want to ensure that only those verified as legitimate will be counted."
The SE didn't have it right, yet again. It's reported in the unbiased rag that no formal complaints have been rec'd. Wrong!
A hand delivered complaint was delivered to the Clerk's office and a formal complaint made to the Lt. Gov's office also from a challenged voter.
Why doesn't the SE interview the challenged voters, instead of just taking the first thing someone else says, that may have been written by the reporter before the complaints were read?
And, Curm, true enough that elected officials take part in ceremonial events...but this mayor does make his appearances political, and that's inappropriate in ceremony to honor veterans...say thanks for fighting so I can keep on lying and interfering with our Constitutional right to a free election!
His claim to combat experience is putting a mentally challenged kid in a headlock!
Thanks for the link, Cato. We've added it as an update to the lower article.
We attende the parade anda ceremonies at Lindquist Field today. Looked like a larger crowd than last year, but still pretty thin, Sure hope we can have lots of publicity for next year.
Kudos to all who planed and our Veterans!
BTW...the mayor must read the blog...his remarks were very short...the way they should have been.Dorrene, Susuie and Amy rode togethr in teh parade. Where were the council men?
Susie had orders to get over to the vote counting...think the mayor went too. WHY?
This may be off topic, but Rudi's phone calls are the most informative pieces of information available on the recount. It appears the WCF has become not just a commentator, nor just a source, but THE source.
Didn't make it to the parade, thank you for the links & information about it.
Today in church, there was a veteran dressed to the nines in his honorable dress khakis - complete with medals and a proud smile. { snif, snif }
Nice link on the video for vets.
Again, thanks - to veterans of all types and from all eras.
TLJ
As the Chairman of the 2007 Veterans Day Parade in Ogden and a member of the inaugural parade committee last year, I had a very good position to hear all of the speeches from both last year's and this year's event.
Let me first say that we were pleased to have both candidates for Mayor represented at Lindquist Field. For the following reasons, Mayor Godfrey was given the honor of delivering the initial speech at Lindquist Field. First, his continued presence as the mayor at every event that we, the members of VFW Post 1481, invite him to is refreshing. We never have to push for his attendance or his support, no matter how little publicity an event may be expected to receive. Second, we knew based upon his speech last year that his remarks regarding Veterans Day would be both appropriate and sincere.
Councilwoman Jeske, thanks again for using the blog to drum up support for this year's parade. The members of the parade committee were pleased to have you in attendance and your support for the event and local veterans is very much appreciated!
Sincerely,
Ryan LeBlanc, VFW Post 1481
As a military spouse, I appreciate all of the support that Mayor Godfrey and Gov. Huntsman give the vets of wars past and the service members of present. I enjoy listening to both of them speak and think that there presence at these kinds of events is both appropriate and justified. I am extremely proud of my spouse (a military member) and proud to have MY elected officials support him and his fellow veterans.
I was at both events on Saturday and thank Mayor Godfrey for his participation and continuing support.
Mr. LeBlanc:
Nicely put. Thanks for the post. There ought to be some matters beyond partisanship. Veterans' Day is one of them.
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