Bureau/Division/Agency
Governor
Document Type
Sound
Exact Creation Date
11-10-2014
Duration
00:02:24
Language
English
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Rights Statement
No Copyright - United States. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information.
Description
A special message from First Lady Ann LePage:
Hello, this is First Lady Ann LePage.
This and every Veteran’s Day, Paul and I enjoy taking time to honor the exceptional men and women of the United States military who have served and protected this country.
Maine is home to more than 140-thousand veterans who have selflessly served our nation and deserve our gratitude not only today but every day.
I spent this past weekend traveling around the state to pay tribute to some truly amazing people, families, and communities. On Saturday, I was proud to be asked to kick-off the first ever POW/MIA Symposium held in Maine, down in Yarmouth. Several Veteran Service Organizations joined together to dedicate themselves to the continued search for thousands of this Country’s heroes who still remain unaccounted for.
That evening, I was honored to meet Vietnam Veteran Jimmy Schools in his hometown of Houlton and present him with some well-deserved medals and a decades long overdue “welcome home”.
In Auburn on Sunday evening, veterans from all of this Nation’s wars were honored at the second annual Tribute to the Troops held at the Androscoggin Colesee.
On Monday morning, hundreds of students from Millinocket joined Senator Collins and I along with Paul House, from House in the Woods, and representatives from Wreaths Across America and the Quilts of Valor program to pay tribute to their hometown heroes at a school assembly.
I’m forever touched and humbled by how Mainer’s come together to pay tribute to our men and women in uniform – both past and present.
Among the over 140-thousand veterans in Maine about 85 000 are over the age of 55 and about 60,000 are over 65. Some of whom reside right here in Augusta at the Maine Veteran’s Home. Paul and I, for the past four years on Veteran’s Day, have visited hundreds of veterans there in an effort to honor them and thank them from the bottom of our hearts for all they sacrificed for us as Americans.
And we want to encourage you to thank our heroes, whose service has protected our families, our opportunities and our freedoms. While we can never fully repay our veterans for their sacrifice, we must take every possible opportunity to honor and support them.
And to all veterans and their families, our simple thank you will never be enough. You maintain and strengthen the presence of freedom in our nation for generations to come.
We want to extend our most sincere appreciation to each and every one of you for your courage and dedication.
Thank you and God Bless you All.