 everyone thank you for coming to our annual mayoral Veterans Day Breakfast I have the pleasure of introducing our Commissioner Commissioner James Hinden can you please everyone give him a hand good morning welcome to the 2022 New York City Veterans Day Breakfast as is mentioned my name is James Hinden I service Commissioner of the New York City Department of Veterans Services please rise for the presentation of colors by the United States Coast Guard color guard followed by the playing of the national anthem which will be played by the Coast Guard band advance the colors at this time please remain standing chaplain of the Coast Guard captain Daniel mode will deliver our opening prayer please join me in prayer eternal father we ask for your blessing on this Veterans Day Mayor's Breakfast and for all those who are here today supporting our veterans and active duty members may we honor those who have faithfully served our country in the military and recognize that the freedoms that we have today rest in part on their shoulders we pray that our veterans continue to lead and feel the same purpose teamwork and service to cause a higher than themselves that they felt while wearing the uniform as our country turns to honor its veterans today may we remember the sacrifices born not only by the service members but also by their families communities and houses of worship schools and the many organizations that support our military we also recognize that the military and the civic partnerships that are doing such tough work of supporting our veterans whose transition to civilian life at times has been challenging including those who suffer from PTSD and physical disabilities may we all give thanks and never forget those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country may their sacrifices be a reminder to future generations of hard-won freedoms that our country cherishes in which our military continues to defend may our nation soldiers sailors airmen marines Coast Guardsmen and guardians now hold that special title of veteran feel the same gratitude of all Americans on this veterans day and every day we ask this in your holy abiding name amen you may be seated now where were we happy veterans day happy veterans day everybody we'd like to give honors and salutation to our distinguished guests starting with our gold star families that is those here who have lost a loved one specifically a family member in combat service please let's give these family members a round of applause for our gold stars we would like to recognize our elected officials Darcelle Clark Bronx District Attorney Joanne Ariola New York City Council member and member of our Veterans Committee Vicki Paladino New York City Council member also Veterans Committee member Jennifer Raj Kumar New York State Assembly member Gail Brewer New York City Council member Sylvanna Brooks Powers New York City Council member Cordell Cleary New York State Senator Kevin Parker New York State Senator Louisville better New York State Senator Al Taylor New York State Senator and last but not least US representative retired Korean War veteran Purpleheart awardee and longtime chair of the House Ways and Means Committee the honorable Charlie Rangel next to key military leaders who are here from the Coast Guard our featured service branch I want to recognize in her absence Admiral Linda Fagan commandant of the United States Coast Guard her deputy who is here and will provide remarks Admiral Steven Pullen vice commandant of the Coast Guard Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Heath Jones we're Admiral John Marger common commander of the first Coast Guard District we're Admiral William Kelly Superintendent US Coast Guard Academy Command Master Chief Maria D'Angelo senior enlisted leader US Coast Guard Academy Captain Zeta Merchant commander Coast Guard sector New York and Command Master Chief Rob Reimer senior enlisted leader Coast Guard sector New York let's give around for our Coast Guard leaders who are here and acknowledging our friends from the Army Colonel Brian Jacobs Garrison Commander Fort Hamilton Command Sergeant Major Eva Commons Garrison Command Sergeant Major Fort Hamilton's cap for them as well I'd like to also acknowledge leaders of both local and visiting military commands anyone we did not mention next like to recognize our New York City Veterans Advisory Board and all of its members who are here acknowledging the board's leadership Wendy McClinton board chairman president and CEO black veterans of social justice Mercedes Elias board secretary co-CEO AmeriVent securities want to call out some of our veterans supporters who with us as well forgive me if I don't name everyone John Escalante Marine for life Todd do so Bob Woodruff Foundation Jeremy Butler Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Tina Atharall psych armor Sharon Sweeting Lindsay American Legion post 372 Paul Shottenham or American Legion Department of New York Marissa Australia Worldwide Veterans and Family Services and Mecca Nelson CEO Humble Haitian Warrior let's give them around a thank you to our community board members from across the city that are here you are the eyes and ears of New York we appreciate your being with us also want to acknowledge our friends at the United War Veterans Council organizers of today's Veterans Day Parade what will follow this breakfast the New York City Veterans Day Parade is the largest parade in the nation I want to call out Mark Otto executive director and Nick Angi on chairman of the board and our parades grand marshal retired master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard a true inspiration to us all Vincent W Patton the third want to acknowledge the food and the excellent meal that has been prepared by creative catering and last but not least the team at DVS and the mayor's office of special projects and community events all parties worked hard behind the scenes to put this together today and so all who are here from my speed and from DVS please raise your hand clap for these people please from DVS I want to give a special shout out to Andre Chirigo our outreach lead and executive producer for today's engagement and Cassandra Alvarez DVS is chief of staff my other everything this place looks beautiful wait let's clap for Andre Cass come on now this place looks beautiful doesn't it we want to thank iron 23 our hosts for today acknowledging Dan Colba iron 23's over owner the place looks good but more importantly you look good so no matter where we are we always do the roll call we're gonna start with the Coast Guard our featured branch then we're going from young to old so to my friends in the Coast Guard formerly known as a revenue cutter service birthday August 4th 1790 make some noise I see you I see you to the young bucks here the babies of the babies birthday December 20 2019 my children older than these folks Space Force anyone from the Space Force here one of these years they gonna get they gonna catch up we can get some veterans in Space Force is coming all right it's gonna say it we're like knowledge of guardians right next youngest young bucks last year's featured branch the Air Force September 18th 1947 birthday anybody from the Air Force here we got an Air Force folks all right all right with the birthday of March 24th 1794 the Navy where our sale is at Navy where you're at come on down the chain going to my my branch June 3rd 1784 Army was on okay all right all right all right they trying to show you Coast Guard folks up they try they try and then the old G's in the room who just celebrated a birthday last night of 270 247 years yesterday Marines where our devil dogs okay I see you I see you we're not done screaming y'all I want to do some other things here too just break it down by component where my guards man at anyone who's in the guard right now serving in the guard just make some noise I want to make sure we see you God all right and then for me I'm a reservist any of my fellow reservists here reservists here if you're currently reservists put your hand up holler yeah active duty where our active duty servicemen is at come on active duty you know it and then for all of you who don't wear the uniform anymore the breakfast is really named after our veterans where our veterans at if you didn't yell yet you can yell at some point if you're a family member of someone who served any of our family members of service members please holler out shout something your family members okay and then last but not least our supporters you're not family by blood but we claim you any supporters in this room let us hear you right now make some noise now that we're ready to go you know everybody they got this screaming in let's talk for a little bit there's a man here today named Vincent James Wesley he was born in Manhattan went away at Vincent I saw him earlier right there he's right there you put that hand that's Vincent right there he was yeah yeah he was born in Manhattan a few blocks from here on February 13th 1922 you heard that 1922 when Vincent was 19 he was drafted in the army that was 1942 he was drafted assigned to an all-black unit the 273rd quartermaster battalion went on to serve and elements commanded by General George Patton during the North Africa campaign World War 2 chase and Rommel from Morocco to Algeria to Tunisia Vincent went to Burma-haven Germany for two years after that then left the army came back to Harlem spent a career as a merchant Marine let's give Vincent a hand everybody yeah there's a woman here today named Wendy Cherise McClinton Wendy served 10 years in the Army Desert Storm era and listed about five years after high school in 1985 after serving a decorated military career got out 94 Wendy found herself in her hometown New York City couch surfing going from place to place from two years I'm talking about couches cars airports all of it did this while bringing her three children under the age of five her boys with her she was homeless at a time when she and her boys were at the Bronx EAU emergency assistance unit someone handed Wendy a flyer it said do you need help do you need services are you a veteran are you homeless she said yes to all these things flyer led her to the headquarters of black veterans of social justice 686 4th and Street in Brooklyn back then founder of the organization Joe Masheriki was there but he was busy and the phone was ringing and Wendy picked the phone up she said black veterans social justice Wendy speaking how may I help you Job sees her he says you got a job here as a receptionist welcome to VVSJ they gave her all the services she needed and everything including a place to live that was 35 years ago Wendy hasn't looked back ever since she now serves in the role that mr. Job once had president and CEO of black veterans of social justice let's give Wendy a round of applause y'all see you I see you and now we got to talk about and now we got to talk about Carrie Ann Dixon Carrie Ann where you at all right when Carrie Ann was in high school sophomore year she was given an assignment to write about the Navy I know we got some some sailors here and y'all expecting to hear the story go a certain direction but I'm telling you didn't not gonna go this way Carrie Ann started doing her homework thought she was gonna join the Navy but she quickly fell in love with the Coast Guard she wound up doing 14 years in the Coast Guard still serves in the Coast Guard as a government civilian and two things that gotta stay when we talk about her one is it Carrie does the clock Kent Superman thing and that she's with the Coast Guard as a government civilian by day by night she's an EMT out in Staten Island in Richmond County at the Richmond University Medical Center other thing I was gonna tell you Carrie was almost gonna leave all of this husband left her with two children in 1999 and she was thinking about leaving the Coast Guard while she was stationed in Kodiak Alaska a senior chief who Carrie Ann trusted convinced her to stay in the service it was a female Yeoman wasn't even her chain of command because of that conversation Carrie Ann Dixon or petty officer first class US Coast Guard retired Carrie Ann Dixon continued and continues to have a decorated decorated career let's clap for her please last but not least is Emily your group Emily raise your hand where you at Emily Emily met a dude at a friendsgiving event just after she graduated from high school his name was Vishal it was November 2010 instead of asking for the digits he said I'm gonna I'm going to bootcamp may I write you you did that other level of the game things took off from there they were on different courses though when they first met Emily was about to go to Hunter College Va Vishal was about to go to the school of hard knocks aka the United States Marine Corps before this brother knew anything about Emily as a girlfriend or about wedding rings he knew about the Eagle Globe and anchor she went on to do an internship for the city working at 311 Vishal deployed to Dellerham Afghanistan circling with echo battery second battalion second Marine Division during operation and during freedom he proposed when we he returned from theater in 2012 what was originally a plan where Vishal would stay on active duty and Emily would join him evolved into them saying let's get in the civilian life together corp or Vishal gun Raj left the Marines in 2015 without a plan but Emily is a planner helped him navigate the VA's program so he took advantage of his GI bill decompressed after the appointment and earned a degree from York College then she made sure that he knew how to navigate the city's employment system he's working with the sanitation department today been there five years let's give Emily around and Vishal please I can't stand here and honor people in the room without calling out veteran community with members who are with us in spirit those who have died and passed on and so I want to take a moment to ask everyone at the count of three to say the name of veteran or veteran family member who's no longer here doesn't matter how they passed or how they're tied to you we just want to say their names right now so they can be with us so on three y'all one two three we welcome those people here this morning to I said my grandfather's name is James William Hinden he was an officer in the army I mentioned all these people and tell all these stories for two reasons one I have so much respect for what it took for each of you to be where you are right now what you went through and your identity as a veteran as a family member before you put the uniform on during your service and everything afterwards to all of these people we talked about all of these spirits and both if you saw them walking down the street right now plain clothes no uniform on you wouldn't be able to tell that they are veterans this bond what defines us it is deeper than anything that can be seen it is deeper than race color national origin sex religion family status disability our souls are what bring us together as veterans countries 246 years four months of 77 days old and it's always been that way it's transcended just like Vincent Wendy Carrie Anne and Emily and Vishal we all came on board to help everybody every veteran community member in this room promotes and espouses life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and for this reason we thank you as we observe this veteran's day please give yourselves a round of applause other thing I want to say before we move on I wish I could tell you we were done that you could let your head out and relax but I can't you see service doesn't end when you take the uniform off we still need you in your own way shape or form to help there are thousand things I could ask right now but the one thing I asked the one thing is to help us mentor the new soldiers sailors guardians airmen Marines and coast guardsmen who are coming home we estimate that more than 3,000 service members leave the rich military and come here to New York City each year they're not 3,000 people in our agency and so we need you to help us as we put hands on these veterans and their loved ones as they ponder what is next we're still building the plan while flying it all this is happening in real time but if you have the time to deliver your wisdom then we ask you to please help I don't even need to illuminate why this is important we need each other and we need to grip hands with that next generation and so to you if you want to help please grab your cell phone right now and visit nyc.gov slash vet mentor fill out an interest form it's nyc.gov slash vet mentor fill out an interest form take less than 60 seconds we didn't just come together to celebrate each other enjoy the food we came here to work we came here to save lives and so to conclude say the things I always say three things one take advantage of all the benefits and opportunities surrounding you you have earned it the Department of Veteran Services we can be reached to help you at 212-416-5250 212-416-5250 connect at veterans.nyc.gov email is connect at veterans.nyc.gov our social media handle is at NYC veterans it is at NYC veterans and our website is NYC.gov slash vets it is NYC.gov slash vets please utilize us or our federal and state partners too as soon as you learn about a benefit or program or contact or opportunity tell somebody put the gas mask on yourself then put it on others we fail today if everything that said in this room stays here you're here in this place at this time for a reason each of the stories we pointed out involved a common theme of people facing adversity and helping one another so please tell somebody what you learn and in three say this every time and never get told thank you thank you thank you for your service there's so much gratitude that all 8.5 million New Yorkers have to you and your families for what you have done there is no New York City without our veterans no New York State no country no world that is enough to serve infinity times what we currently give you we can't repay this debt and so to end with that with two quotes this is Winston Churchill never was so much old to so many by so few say it again it's never was so much old to so many by so few and then the next quote this is loud zoo being deeply loved by someone gives you strength loving someone deeply gives you courage being loved deeply by someone gives you strength loving someone deeply gives you courage God bless you God bless the city of New York and God bless America thank you everyone at this time I'm humbled and honored to introduce our military speaker from our featured branch Admiral Stephen D Poland 33rd vice commandant of the United States Coast Guard well good morning everybody it's a true pleasure to be here thank you to Mayor Adams commissioner thank you fellow flag officers military service members and distinguished guests our Gold Star families our veterans and everybody who supports our military services it is a just a tremendous honor for me to be here to represent our joint force especially our United States Coast Guard thank you really for the opportunity to share this Veterans Day with you you may not know it but New York City is where the Coast Guard was born our founding father was Alexander Hamilton who rest in Trinity Church and Alexander Hamilton said in Federalist Paper number 12 a few arm vessels judiciously positioned at the entrance to our ports might at some small expense be made useful sentinels of the law that was the theory of the United States Coast Guard and so the Coast Guard was born and since 1790 your United States Coast Guard has been standing the watch here in New York City to protect America's sovereignty our security our maritime safety and protect the vital waterways the strategically by the waterways of New York City New York City is a Coast Guard City and that is represented today it was also here in New York City that the very first Armistice Day Parade was held in 1919 on the anniversary of the end of the First World War the event honored those who served those who fought and died in service to our country after another world war in 1954 President Dwight Eisenhower called upon the citizens of our great nation to observe November 11th as Veterans Day he said which you take a day to remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly on the seas in the air and on foreign shores to preserve our heritage of freedom and let us re-consecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain Veterans Day is an opportunity to demonstrate our gratitude to those brave and selfless people who answered the call to serve in defense and protection of others our veterans past and future ensure that Americans enjoy security and prosperity grounded in freedom and the rule of law and we must always honor our military families those who allow us to do what we in service feel called to do our military is committed to peace and stability our veterans have served to keep the peace we have fought to ensure freedom and our democratic values but we live in a dynamic world a world that changes too many malign influences and too many instances of armed aggression and so our commitment to our veterans must be enduring as our commitment to freedom and democratic values must be enduring I am so grateful for the many veteran service organizations that are here and those who have made this possible those who have served in uniform groups such as the United War Veterans Council they inspire the public to embrace veterans and their families and care and recognize us and those who have served the parade later this morning is a testament to that I also appreciate the many state and local governments who have dedicated resources to veterans in their communities and again thanks to the leadership of Mayor Adams and Commissioner Hinden the New York City Department of Veterans Affairs supports veterans and their families and the wide ranges of services that you offer are a demonstration of your commitment and I can tell you they make a difference each and every day I would also like to highlight the number of veterans who still serve others in civilian life as police officers firefighters healthcare workers and educators I know that many veterans here in New York City serve in those roles and they serve among us every day contributing to the well-being of others even after concluding their military service I know that we in the Coast Guard here in New York City have so many veterans who have served and those who are firefighters in their civilian capacity police officers but yet choose to continue to serve in our Coast Guard Reserve thank you once again for the opportunity to speak with you this morning I look forward to the day's events and on behalf of all those serving in the Coast Guard and the Joint Force I thank you for honoring our veterans and thank you for making your United States Coast Guard the featured service in this year's Veterans Day Parade I am so thrilled that you chose to honor the Reverend Dr. Vince Patton our eighth Master of the Coast Guard as a Grand Marshal Matthew Patton it's great to see you thank you and thank you all God bless you and Semper Paratus let's give another round of applause for Admiral Pullin everybody I want to also acknowledge a few other people who were here Chief of Staff to the mayor and Marine Corps veteran Frank Carone everyone yep also Commissioner for the New York for New York City emergency management also a Marine Zach Isko also want to recognize we just had new entry as far as assembly member Michael Novikov as we await the next set of remarks just want to make these public service announcements again as far as how to get in touch with us and our federal and our state partners once again the New York City Department of Veterans Services can be reached at 212-416-5250 I say again it's 212-416-5250 our email address is connectatveterans.nyc.gov it is connectatveterans.nyc.gov the website is nyc.gov slash vets once again it is nyc.gov slash vets and our social media handle is at NYC veterans social media handle for the New York City Department of Veterans Services at NYC veterans for our friends at the state level the New York State Division of Veterans Services can be reached at 888 vets nyc or 888-838-7697 once again 888-838-7697 email address for the New York State Division of Veterans Services is dvsinfo at veterans.ny.gov it's dvsinfo at veterans.ny.gov the website for the New York State Division of Veterans Services is veterans.ny.gov once again it is veterans.ny.gov and then for our federal friends the phone number is 800-698-2411 or 800-698-2411 800 myva411 the website for the US Department of Veterans Affairs is va.gov once again it's va.gov and please tell folks about the things you learned today tell them about what you learned for us as the New York City Department of Veterans Services we're six years old the oldest eight the youngest agency in the city and the smallest and our charter mandated areas are health care housing benefits culture education and employment so once again our areas are health care housing benefits culture education and employment if you have any needs for us feel free to reach out we do three major things in our agency we connect veterans community members to opportunities as far as making referrals we also are the first to responders when someone reaches out to the city of New York and says that they are a veteran and then the next thing that we do is we roll up our sleeves and do direct services and areas that involve burials for our veterans who pass away and need an honorable funeral as far as those earned funeral benefits also helping veterans process their service connected disability claims so for our veterans who have service connected disabilities or things done to your mind and body where you need compensation from the VA we help with that we also help with our housing insecure veterans so veterans who are dealing with housing issues between couch surfing between living in the shelter system or being at risk of being housing insecure and we provide mental health and care coordination in general as far as if a veteran reaches out and they express certain needs we say okay how can we find a way to connect the dots in these places we like to work hand in hand with many of our partners using our connection profile it is nyc.gov slash vet connect nyc.gov slash vet connect and in addition to working with our service providers to help in these different areas something that we are stood up now recently in the agency is ability assist our veterans who have needs that involve affordable housing so any veterans who have issues that involve affordable housing ranging from dealing with rent insecurity or as far as being behind on rent behind on utilities all the way to I'm looking at navigating the city's affordable housing platforms all the way up to I'm interested in using the very home loan to buy a home to purchase something so these are different ways that we're able to serve our veterans as well and then on the effort I mentioned where we ask you to go to nyc.gov slash vet mentor visit nyc.gov slash vet mentor what we're doing is pairing these service members who are coming home with mentors in the community this was a part of a more than two year back and forth with the Department of Defense where now we receive the data the DD 214 is electronic separation info for all new service members who are coming to the city of New York and so please any way that you are able to link in link up with us or partner we very much appreciate when we look at the issues that we're working with within our veteran community the key thing for us is self identification it's why it's so important for us to mentor those veterans who are coming home when we look at the VA's data approximately 33.1% of all veterans who are eligible to use their benefits use those benefits at the national level it's 33.1% when we look at it at the state level it is 29.7% of all in the state who are eligible utilize their benefits when we look at it at the city level that number goes down to 24.6% I always tell our service members and supporters whenever you see me tell yourself there at least two to three people who are ghosts whom you don't see it is so critical for us to work with these veterans so that we may close what is known as the deadly gap researchers from the VA and several academic institutions have identified that that first 12 months after leaving active duty service is when our veterans are most vulnerable to issues that involve mental health and that involve wellness and so it's critical to us to work to put hands on our veterans at that time there's a greater than two times likelihood that a veteran will commit suicide compared to active duty service community within that year there's an almost two times greater likelihood that they will commit suicide within the period of that year compared to the veteran community and so we're trying to do everything we can to get on top of these things and triage these issues by any means necessary for us and so that's another reason why we ask you to visit nyc.gov slash that mentor please fill out the interest form and something else that we're doing in New York City we believe one of the first municipalities in the country to do it is we're establishing a transition assistance program for service members here in the city so if you have recently left active service we're inviting you and a plus one to a two-day seminar where we work with you and make sure that you're aware of all benefits available to you in the areas of health care in the areas of housing of benefits of culture of education of employment we are working avidly with our friends at the Department of Labor with the DOL vets platform to make sure that we can do something that mirrors and echoes the tap program that's provided to our service members when they're on the active duty side of the legend it is critical to us for as many of our brothers and sisters as possible to know about all benefits available to them and to not only take advantage of those benefits but to tell others about this because we've realized so much of this is word of mouth another piece of the puzzle for us is reaching out to our influences we've been intentional about acknowledging all the family members of our veterans just like the story I mentioned about Emily and her husband often times it may not be the veteran that is that pressure point to make an influence in the veterans life it may be the veterans family member it may be a father it may be a mother it may be a sister a brother it may be a spouse a significant other when we look at our veteran community the archetype of our transitioning service members is someone who graduated from high school who after a year or two out in the world enlisted in the military who served for somewhere between four to eight years on the active duty side and then has come home they come home and they've likely already identified the person who they will ultimately marry and start a family with and so there's so many different needs there to triage between what is available through that veterans identity and what we look at through the veterans loved one trying to be right for them to be right for their spouse to be right for their children and others it's a tribe and we are charges and agency to help all who are in the tribe unlike our friends at the federal level and veteran in New York City by definition is anyone who has served at least a day in the military in other words we will afford you what benefits we can with our identity as a city so long as you have taken the oath of enlistment and served at least one day in the military being as progressive as we can so that we can be there for our veterans and I want to thank our friends in the city council who made that possible where that legislation became law effective this past May as far as how we look at the community we also are mindful of our active duty service members when it comes to our friends in the Coast Guard because we are a Coast Guard city and looking at our friends in the Army the Navy the Air Force the Marines the other branches have a footprint here we work hard to assist not only the veterans but also those service members because our charge is if you've taken the oath and you're within these five boroughs we are to work with you one thing I'll say also the hardest part of this job is it almost every week I get a call from a spouse or for a child or grandchild who reaches out and says my grandfather my grandmother's experiences some issues health wise and we need help and this is someone whom we wish had reached out to us decades ago whom we could have assisted through their veteran identity success to me is living in an environment where we are working with our veterans well in advance of them having issues where they need to come to us but where they do it in a proactive way and not a reactive way we often see situations where a veteran says I don't deserve those benefits that's not for me I don't want to take from someone else a lot of this work is to convince our veterans that that is not the way to think that you by being one of the 6.4 percent of all Americans who serve or who have served 5.7 percent veteran 0.7 percent currently serving between active duty guard and reserve by being in this community you have earned certain benefits we want to make sure you take advantage of them so whenever you speak with a veteran if you encounter that issue just let them know hey you have earned this I can tell you from experience at some point that veteran in his or her life will wind up coming to us if not them then their family and we want to do everything we can to educate people in advance of having these things a personal story for me my grandfather is also a career war veteran I mentioned his name this is my name James William Hinden he served in that time period he was an army chaplain he passed away we didn't know about his benefits of what was available to him and we weren't the richest people in the world I remember taking what money I had from what I'd saved when I was going to military school and helping to contribute towards his home going services it shouldn't be that way we want to make sure that more of our veterans know about all things that are available to them and that the families know and so to all who are here because I don't have to count but we made it a point to try to invite many of our community members here today there's several vets here there's several other community leaders who are here we want you to ask our service members the question or anyone who encounters you for help ask them the question have you served is anyone in your family served for us to identify the other three quarters of our people who are invisible we need to know that question because many of our veterans do not self-identify so among the things I actually take with you one is nyc.gov slash vet mentor and two is ask folks the question reach out to us if you need anything or have anyone who needs anything and now ladies and gentlemen it is my pleasure to introduce the 110th mayor of the city of new york new york police department captain retired new york state senator emeritus and former chair of the senate veterans homeland security and military affairs committee and brooklyn borough president emeritus mayor of the city of new york ladies and gentlemen the honorable eric leeway adams thank you thank you good morning this is probably one of the most significant days uh in our city if not our country where we turn turn a conversation into an actual declaration it's one thing to say we support our military our men and women who are doing the uniform as we sit under the tree of freedom that they watered with their blood it can't be just something we articulated something that we believe as I drove over here this morning I reflected on the day during the 60s when I was a little boy and we got the call that my uncle my mother's brother was killed in vietnam and that day became so real for me that the conversation of the wall left the television station and entered into our living room and I rededicated my life to how important it is to be part of this great country and it broke my heart when I read a survey that stated that 52 percent of americans said they would not defend this country if it was attacked by foreign enemy but let me tell you something I'm one of the 48 percenters I'll protect this country throughout my entire life and when I wake up in the morning I wake up every morning and say the same thing I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and so even when bombs burst in air and that red glare give proof through the night that our flag is still there those bombs don't have to be physical it could be the bombs of covid it could be the bombs of financial uncertainty it could be the bombs of losing our employees or employment it could be any bomb one thing we could be sure of that flag will continue to fly because of the men and women who sacrifice their lives to make sure that flag flies and to anyone foreign or domestic there is only one country on the globe with dream is attached to his name there's no german dream no polis dream no friends dream but damn it that is an american dream and this dream is alive and it is well every day and so the men and women who fight to protect this country we honor you we respect you and we recognize your sacrifices services and there's someone else we recognize when i retire from the police department i remember my mother collapsing in my arms because of those 22 years she watched eric and my brother bernard serve this city we honor the family members the family members that watch their loved ones go abroad the family members that watch their loved one on the front line defending this country the family members that lose their loved ones to battle we honor you family members you know we know what you represent we know how much you give how much you sacrifice each time your loved one served this country you too serve this country and we thank you for what you do as well and so i'm happy today to march and walk on behalf of the men and women that serve this country and our administration is filled with those men and women you have commissioner isco commissioner hendon commissioner malina so many of the men and women who fought abroad are now here fighting for you every day and because of them i can probably say new york is not coming back new york is back thank you very much let's have another round for mary adams everybody that concludes our program for today you don't have to go home and you don't have to get out of here we have the place until 10 a.m please continue to enjoy yourself mix mingle do your thing that and i look forward to seeing you on the parade route for those who don't know the start time for the veterans day parade is sometime between noon and 12 30 as it kicks off marches and other participants will proceed north on fifth avenue to just north of 40th street things will end somewhere between 40th and 45th please join with us as we celebrate this year's new york city veterans day parade and happy happy happy veterans day thank you