Oh, say can you see by the dawn early light, what so proudly we
held at the twilight last gleaming who stripes and bright stars through The perilous fight.
For the [Applause] [Music] rapturing air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star [Applause] spangled her way for the land of the free and the
home of Brave of the brave. Welcome everybody. You know, I look out over here like you. I'm not getting any younger. And I think of so many that
have come here for the last 40 years. This is our 40th anniversary. And uh I know I'm going to miss some, but I think the Ponte brothers that were here all the time and George Nester, the most decorated
soldier in Atlanta County, and I think of Mike Schula, who was never missed. Uh so there's a lot. and most certainly my
mentor Dick Squires who the cemetery is named after. And uh I guess we'll all see each other in the buy and buy real soon. And uh I used to announce Pearl Harbor survivors please
stand up no more. those that survived you, Ojima, Okinawa, those that stormed the beaches in D-Day, they all stood up and we had quite a crowd. But, uh, you know, they're now in our memories and
many of them are here and it's great that we are paying respect to them. I want to announce our elected officials that have come out for this 40th anniversary. our assemblyman, Don
Guardian, also former mayor of Atlantic [Applause] City, our county surrogate, Jim [Applause] Kersio. If you don't know where Jim Kersio's offices, it doesn't matter. Call him. He'll come to your
house. It's uh kind of amazing, but it's a true story. our county clerk, Joe Geraldo. [Applause] Anybody that has a TV knows who Joe
Geraldo is. We have Commissioner Vice Chair Moren Kern, former freeholder Charlie Garrett. [Applause] We have Commissioner June
Burns and we have her sister, Brigantine Deputy Mayor Karen Bu. We have Commissioner John Rizley. Atlantic City Councilman George Tibet. We have Charlie Pritchard here, former mayor of Hamilton Township. And uh we now have as we usually do an
invocation by John Ash. Before I do, I want to just say who else is here. Um then when you put it on two papers and one's behind the I don't know what I was thinking. Veteran Service Officer Bob
Furwell. Bob and I were pals for since high school and uh interestingly the way things work. I went to college and he went to Vietnam. I see our superior court judge, former
superior court judge Mark Sansson. And Mark, stand up for a minute. I want to say something. Stand up. It's by the way, it's not about you anyway. How's this for a story? Mark's dad, he had Sansson's Bakery in atic
city. He married his mother on a Sunday. He went off to war on a Monday and didn't see anybody for five years. Kind of amazing the sacrifices people
have made. Uh we also have veterans advisory board chair Mike Banivan Banjoua and and good day to you Mr. Banjou. Ventry advisory board members please stand
up. Thank you. Members of American Legion Post 286 color guard from Hamilton, please stand up. [Applause]
And this is the first and only American Legion Color Guard in South Jersey. So, thank you very much and we'll see you every year. We also have the present mayor of Hamilton Township. Why do I always want to say Maze Landing like everybody
else? Hamilton Township. Most people hear of it and they think of Mercer County. Why there's two, I don't know. But I also want to know why there's two Tilton roads a half a mile from each other. If you go down Shore Road, doesn't make sense.
Just to make sure you get confused. I do have some thoughts. these remarks. I hope you take it for the way I mean it. And then we will have the national anthem which is obviously more important than anything I have to
say. But uh I want to say it before I forget it. That performance that Bruce Springsteen gave in Manchester, England is [Applause]
nauseating. This is not the first time he made his remarks about this country, how awful we are, how treasonous our president is. That's probably because this country has treated him so poorly.
Forbes just said that he is worth $1.1 billion. And he goes on foreign soil and complains. If it wasn't for us, that complaint would have been in German instead of English. But short memories.
He was successful but at the same time doesn't seem to care too much for this country. I want to tell you a quick story is to tell the kids in my class this story. Franklin Roosevelt was president right
after during Pearl Harbor, prior to Pearl Harbor, after Pearl Harbor. And after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order, executive order
906, which meant all peoples of Japanese ancestry, even the Nissai that were born here, American citizens, would have to sell their property, sell their farms.
sell their businesses, pack one suitcase, and be herded in to 10 concentration camps. It's kind of amazing that anything like that can happen. But I'm going to pull this
together. Remember what I said about Bruce Springsteen? And there's great success. These Japanese Americans, one of them said, "We love this country, although it doesn't seem to love
us." And they demanded an opportunity to fight for America. But they were segregated, separated, and they could form their own unit. The unit is the
442nd regimenal combat team. I want you to listen to this. They fought ferociously. The lost battalion we all know about because we read about it in our history
books. Group Americans, white Americans surrounded by German machine guns. They were told to go up there. They went
up. 800 casualties, but they rescued 221 Americans. I'm going to go on with this. This was a unit, the 442nd, the most decorated unit in
American history. absorb that for a moment. In the end, there was a th00and in, 2,000, 3,000. Their peak was 10,500, but they didn't all serve together in and out.
21 Medal of Honor winners. Repeat that. 21. Maybe it'll mean more if I say it incorrectly. 21 Congressional Medal of Honors, but it's just a Medal of Honor.
8,000 Purple Hearts. So, something to think about. And when this happened and the complaints that occurred, the comments were
repulsive. So, what? A jap's a So, we have a lot to atone for in this country. And uh our soldiers African-American descent, our soldiers of Indian descent, the way they were treated,
well, hopefully it's a new dawn and we all realize that we're all Americans. All Americans. And I want to repeat this, please. 21 medals of
honor ain't easy to get, 8,000 Purple Hearts. And after they rescued the Lost Battalion, prior to rescuing, their commanding officer was a colonel, Colonel Miller, and a general came and
said, "Send them up." And he said, "It'll be suicide for them." He said, "Send them up." And they went and they went willingly. and fought ferociously. 800 casualties. When they got back to the
States, I think they were at Fort Bragg or Fort Sills, I don't remember. But the general came over to the colonel, and the colonel saluted him, and the general said, "I I hope there's no hard feelings." And he put his hand up. He
shook. And Colonel Miller continued to salute but didn't shake his hand. So there were people that cared. There were people that sacrificed. And all during this time, their moms and
their dads, their brothers, their sisters, their grandpas, their grandmoms lost everything. They left the camps and fought for the United States of America. And just to answer one of their
comments, we may not have loved you then, but we love you now. Try to get that off my chest, by the way. So, Mr. Springsteen, you got 1.1 billion. We've been pretty good to you. And all the rest of those loud
mouths, Robert Dairo, it's worth 700 million, but they can go and make their comments. What's worse about Springsteen? It's on foreign soil. You imagine the meaning this country? What do you think he is? One of the Dixie
Chicks. Our keynote speaker is John Dardy, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran. And he wasn't finished serving his country. He now serves all of his veterans from all the wars. Sacrifices
himself. Anything you need, you call John Dy. and uh very proud to have him speak, especially today, the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Vietnam
War. John, come on up. Thank you. [Applause] Hey, how are y'all? I don't really need this. I got a fat mouth. Anyway, I'm in such distinguished
company that I wore my Canadian tuxedo today for you. Anyway, why should we remember veterans on Memorial Day? Why should we remember Vietnam vets in particular? Well, I want
to thank the county executive, all the county uh uh politicians and elected officials. Linda who was on my case every day for the last to make sure I got here on time uh for inviting me. Um
I have a lot to say about a million words but I'm not going to do that to you today. I have been representing and advocating us as veterans for over four decades for 44 years. Um it's you know my wife just
told me recently because people will say to us thank you for your service. I never knew what to respond. So she said, "Why don't you tell them it's your honorary privilege?" So boy does that make sense. It was my privilege. It was my
honor. Was not my honor when I came home in November of 1970 because uh many of us and I'm sure a lot of the rest of you suffered the suffered I hate to say suffered were uh given the same lack of respect as I was. We should remember us.
uh uh for the length of time that I've been doing this. And my first client, believe it or not, was a Spanishame war veteran from 1898. And he died three days after I did the paperwork, unfortunately. Great guy. He married
young. He robbed the cradle, but I got his wife DIC, dependent indemnity compensation, after I filed this paperwork. Uh and I was happy about that. And that was 107,000 claims ago. I
won 96% of them. I'm not a nice guy. Okay. Uh I found out a long time ago after the third time I got shot down that you can't be a nice guy and survive. You got to survive because then you can help the people around
you. In any event, how do we remember Memorial Day? Well, we should remember Vietnam vets because like that Spanish American guy who I handled in 19
81 82 81 I think it was like the uh all of the World War I vets who I used to handle all the PS all the chosen few survivors all the Marines all the sailors all the army all the air force our ranks are
thinning particularly we Vietnam vets and I'm sitting here looking at people who look familiar to me, but I'm not seeing all the faces I used to see. So, we have to remember veterans, particularly on Memorial Day. And let me
tell you how I remember my Memorial Day. In fact, 55 years ago yesterday, I was doing a combat assault in the Meong Delta out of Camo, the Camal Peninsula.
We headed west. Uh, and let me explain. A combat assault in my company was five slicks, five uh, troop carriers, two gunships, and a command and control who flew 350 ft and directed where we were landing and
everything. And um, so 55 years ago, we had 38 Rangers. We had a fiveman MACV team. Uh, it's Military Assistance Command Vietnam. And there were 75 of us that
went into the LZ. 16 of us came out. It was an L-shaped ambush that our intel, didn't let us know what was going on. They had a 51 cal at the apex, 51 cal at this end of the L, and 51 cal at
that end. We landed in a rice patty and about a dozen guys stood up with RPGs in front of us and fired them at us. Besides all the machine gun fire, uh I honestly never remembered the day
until my pilot that day, who is now a doctor in Philadelphia, told me, he said, "Yeah." He said, "Uh, we were probably one of three ships that got out the entire
insertion. 43 people were killed. The well 59 people were killed or wounded. Uh, 16 of us came out of it. Uh, I was the senior NCO at the Spec 4,
if you can imagine that. Yeah. And that's when I learned to, uh, hey, listen, I got to survive this, cuz if I don't, you're dead, too. Uh, my gunner got shot, my uh, co-pilot got shot. Uh, my best friend died uh, about eight
hours afterward. I got him to a dispensary. They put him on a uh, ship and they were sending him to Yakuza for extra surgery. Got hit in the head. Uh, and he died uh, eight hours after I took him off my ship and put him in a
dispensary. So, I remember Memorial Day. I remember Andy Susie. But, you know, I also remember all you guys and girls. I remember Bobby Furlow. And you know what? You went to high school with him. Oh,
God. I can just imagine. I can stop. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Well, some things never change, Bob. But I love you anyway, man. Bobby asked me to uh come down here and do this. And and I said, "Why?" He said, "Because you started all this
stuff." I said, "I did?" "Well, I was born the day the Korean War started." So I thought he meant that, but maybe he meant that we helped initiate the veteran service office in Atlantic County, Mammoth County, Burlington
County, Cape May, all these counties. There was when I took over my office in Ocean County, there were three offices in the state out of 21 counties. When I left my office in 2021, I believe there are 17 18 offices in the county now. And that's
not withstanding my buddy Chris Wombat who's here somewhere. The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs offices, too. They're pretty good, too. We just shuffle stuff back and forth. Uh, matter of fact, they refer a lot of stuff to me, but that's okay. I specialize in
appeals and really hard claims. My buddy Butchie in the back, he specializes in the impossible. We're just trying to do the best we can. But you got to remember something. We too are combat disabled Vietnam vets. Uh but don't ever forget
and I can say this. I can say I'm not a veteran just on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I'm a veteran every stinking day of the year. And that's okay because I know a lot of you feel the same way. My son bought me this shirt. My son did three tours in Iraq
with the First Marines. And he said, "Dad, read the back of it. Does it make sense? Yes. Thank you. You guys behind me can read the back of it, too. And it is that. And would I do it again? Goddamn right I would. Excuse
me. I would. And I'd get shot down a fourth time if I had to. In any event, you guys, thanks for having me today. And please remember us every day. Thank you.
[Applause] Just another ordinary individual doing extraordinary things. It's what America is all about. And that's why we are the greatest country on the face of the
earth. We're trying. We're trying hard. We've made errors. Who hasn't? But we're a lot better than we were. And we'll continue to improve as a country as long as we all pull in the
same [Music] direction. Heat up [Music]
here. [Music]