Free Republic

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama appealed to an unsettled nation Saturday to honor the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks by hewing to the values of diversity and tolerance. "We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust," the president declared. Speaking at the Pentagon, where nine years ago a hijacked plane smashed into the west side of the building and killed 184 people, Obama conjured a solemn remembrance of that horrible day but also spoke strongly in defense of religious freedom. "As Americans we are not — and never will be...

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, March 8, 2006 – Fort Sam Houston commemorated the 96th anniversary of the first military flight March 2 at the base's main flagpole, the same site where U.S. Army Lt. Benjamin Delahauf Foulois boarded the "Signal Corps 'Aeroplane' No. 1" and circled the fort. Air Force Gen. William Looney III, commander of Air Education and Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, and Lt. Col. Sandra Miarecki, chief of flight operations at Brooks City-Base, Texas, place a memorial wreath during the March 2 ceremony commemorating the 96th anniversary of the first military flight. Photo...

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 26, 2006 – In a biting cold wind, families and dignitaries gathered at Arlington National Cemetery here today to remember American servicemembers who gave their lives in operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Provide Comfort. Officials conducted the ceremony at section 60 of the cemetery, where most of those killed in the Persian Gulf War are buried. The Persian Gulf War ended with the liberation of Kuwait on Feb. 28, 1991. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, remembered the hundreds of U.S. servicemembers killed in the conflict. He said American servicemembers remember...

ABOARD USS PEARL HARBOR, Persian Gulf (NNS) -- In remembrance of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) observed a day of reflection to pay tribute and respect to the sacrifice of the Sailors and Soldiers killed in the historic attack. Pearl Harbor Sailors started the day with a training scenario to simulate the events that Sailors aboard USS Arizona (BB 39), USS Utah (BB 31), and USS Nevada (BB 36) faced 64 years ago. Following the training scenario, Pearl Harbor Sailors held a ceremony to commemorate the watershed moment in American history....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2005 – The Department of Defense World War II 60th Anniversary Commemoration Committee, in conjunction with "America's Vancouver" in Washington State, will host a commemorative event this weekend recognizing World War II veterans, their families and those who served on the home front for their service and sacrifice. The commemoration will be Aug. 28 at 1:00 p.m. at the Vancouver National Historic Reserve, home of Vancouver Barracks, Fort Vancouver and Pearson Airfield. The event is free and open to the public. No tickets or advanced reservations are required. The Pacific Northwest event is the final of six...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Twenty years after he drowned in his cabin on the sabotaged Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, photographer Fernando Pereira was honored Sunday with a marble sculpture lowered to the seabed beside the sunken ship in which he died. As supporters and friends prepared to ease the sculpture into 85 feet of water in New Zealand's Matauri Bay, a French newspaper reported this weekend that the French spy agencies that sank the ship in 1985 with two mines placed by frogmen had direct approval from then President Francois Mitterrand. The vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, had been readying to...

The US Embassy paused Thursday to commemorate the death of 51 Americans and Lebanese during suicide bomb attacks against the diplomatic mission in 1983 and 1984. “Today we come to pay our respects to the American and Lebanese employees of the Beirut Embassy who died in the bombings of 1983 and 1984,” said US Ambassador Vincent Battle during a brief ceremony at the embassy in Awkar. “We come to say thank you for the tremendous sacrifice they paid for serving the US Embassy.”