Marines gather under the American flag during a change of command ceremony aboard Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina.
“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
PATROL BASE JAKER, Helmand province, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan — A Marine says goodbye to 1st Lt. Scott J. Fleming during his memorial service at Patrol Base Jaker, Afghanistan, Sept. 25, 2010. Fleming died supporting combat operations Sept. 17, 2010. (Official Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Mark Fayloga)CORONADO, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2016) The brightest moon in almost 69 years sets behind the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). The ship is moored and homeported in San Diego. It is undergoing a scheduled Planned Maintenance Availability. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Abe McNatt/Released)U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Chester Nez recieves an American flag from Pfc. Tiffany Boyd, at Code Talker Hall, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., April 4, 2014. The flag was flown over the Marine Corps War Memorial, on the first day of spring in honor of Cpl. Nez's attendace at the Platoon 382 Hall rededication. Cpl. Nez is the last of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers of World War II. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kathryn K. Bynum/Released)An Airman assigned to the 20th Fighter Wing is embraced by his daughter after returning to Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., April 13, 2016. Approximately 300 Airmen deployed for six months to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Jensen Stidham)U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major Michael Hurndon pays his final respects during a Fallen Warrior ceremony at Camp Phoenix, Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 18, 2009. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Senior Chief Kevin Elliott)SOUTH CHINA SEA (June 4, 2016) Chief Religious Program Specialist Paul Drachenberg and Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Crystal Randle stand at attention during a wreath-laying ceremony on USS John C. Stennis' (CVN 74) aircraft elevator in honor of the 74th anniversary of the Battle of Midway as the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) steams alongside. The Battle of Midway was a key naval battle between the forces of the United States and the Empire of Japan that is considered the turning point in the Pacific theater of operations during World War II. Providing a ready force supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, John C. Stennis is operating as part of the Great Green Fleet on a regularly scheduled 7th Fleet deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class David Cox/Released)Staff Sgt. Arin Vickers, assigned to the 435th Supply Chain Operations Squadron, is greeted by her dog when she arrives at an airport USO in St. Louis on May 6, 2015. Vickers was gone for six months, and her friends and family were there to greet and surprise her by bringing along Baxter. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Erica Crossen)PEARL HARBOR (Dec. 5, 2015) Nelson Mitchell, the oldest living African-American Pearl Harbor survivor, reflects in the shrine room of the USS Arizona Memorial during a Pearl Harbor Survivor/ World War II, Family and Friends Harbor Tour at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The harbor tour is one of several events that will take place leading up to the 74th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day to pay tribute to the nation’s military while enlightening Americans about veterans and service. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd ClassTamara Vaughn) A Vietnam Veterans Memorial docent makes a rubbing for the family of Spc. 4 Donald P. Sloat who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor earlier this week, Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2014. Sloat distinguished himself while serving as a machine gunner with the 1st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, during combat operations against an armed enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On the morning of Jan. 17, 1970, Sloat's squad moved up a hill in file formation, when the lead Soldier tripped a wire attached to a hand grenade booby-trap, set up by enemy forces. When the grenade rolled down the hill toward Sloat, he picked up the grenade to throw it away from his fellow Soldiers. After initially attempting to throw the grenade, Sloat realized that detonation was imminent, and that two or three men near him would be killed or seriously injured if he couldn't shield them from the blast. In an instant, Sloat chose to draw the grenade to his body, shielding his squad members from the blast, and saving their lives. He was killed in action Jan. 17, 1970, a month before his 21st birthday. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bernardo Fuller/Released)JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (November 3, 2016) Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Edwards, assigned to the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Greeneville (SSN 772), is greeted by his wife and child following the completion of a six-month deployment to the Western Pacific Ocean in Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael H. Lee/Released)Family, friends and fellow Airmen attend the funeral of Col. David Banholzer, a 14th Presidential Pilot, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Dec. 7, 2016. Banholzer, from Green Bay, Wis., commanded the Presidential Airlift Group at the 89th Airlift Wing, and was a husband and father of two daughters. He died from Glioblastoma Muliforme, a rare form of brain cancer, in his southern Maryland home surrounded by his family on Nov. 4, 2016. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Wallace)SAN DIEGO (Sept. 29, 2016) Sailors assigned to the Zumwalt-class destroyer USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) pays respects to fallen Master-at-Arms 2nd Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on the 10-year anniversary of his death. Monsoor was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on April 8, 2008, for his heroic actions while serving in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, with Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Abe McNatt/Released)A Marine with I Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD) reunites with a loved one after returning home from Afghanistan, March 28. I MEF (FWD) assumed command of all Marine operations throughout southern Afghanistan in April 2010, making it the largest Marine-led command in Afghanistan since the war began.A ramp ceremony honors eight fallen soldiers of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), held at Kandahar Airfield on October 28, 2009 as they are loaded onto a USAF C-17 Globemaster III destined for the unit's home in Fort Lewis, Washington. The soldiers were killed on October 27, 2009, in two separate improvised explosive device attacks in the Kandahar Region. (USAF Photo By Tech. Sgt. Francisco V. Govea II)(Released, Lt Col. John Bryan, AFPAA Public Affairs Officer, Pentagon)Capt. Ross Farling, a C-130 Hercules pilot from the 123rd Airlift Wing, hugs his daughters during a homecoming ceremony in Louisville, Ky., July 4, 2015. Farling was among 39 guardsmen who returned from a deployment to the Persian Gulf region, where they supported Operation Freedom's Sentinel. (U.S. Air National Guard photo/Maj. Dale Greer)
And today we celebrate...
