MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO THIS GROUP OF THEN YOUNG AMERICANS VENTURED INTO A FOREIGN LAND - FOR SOME IT WAS OUR FIRST TIME AT BEING MORE THAN A FEW MILES AWAY FROM THE COMFORTS OF FAMILY, HOME, AND FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGS.

Reunion Images The entire Group Clint Huffman, David Oxford Fred Mignone Bob Seamon, Tom Fosmire Fred Mignone, John Mason, Paul Kanar, Steve Turner Joe Heckman, Roger Motschenbacher Bob Bennett, Fred Mignone Tom Fosmire, James Cole, Rick Miller Steve Minger, Paul Kanar The Vets

VIET NAM AND THE COLD WAR WERE THE TWIN FORGES, WHICH SHAPED OUR GENERATION. AND FOR THOSE OF US IN THIS ROOM, WE DID NOT JOIN THOSE WHO CHOSE TO FLEE. INSTEAD, WE ANSWERED OUR COUNTRY'S CALL AND JOINED THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

WE CAME TO THE AIR FORCE, AND EVENTUALLY TO AN AMERICAN AIR FORCE BASE ON A HILL IN GERMANY FROM A VARIETY OF BACKGROUNDS; WITH SHINING HOPES AND GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR OUR FUTURE - VENTURING DOWN AN UNKNOWN AND UNCERTAIN PATH.

AS YOUNG AIR POLICEMEN WE WERE QUICKLY THRUST INTO THE REALITIES OF LIFE. WHILE FAMLIES SAT DOWN TO THANKSGIVING DINNER OR WERE CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS, WE WERE ON THE JOB. WHEN IT WAS RAINING AND COLD, AND OTHERS WERE GLAD TO BE SOMEPLACE WARM AND DRY, WE WERE OUT THERE. WHILE OTHERS CARRIED PENCILS AND TOOLBOXES TO THEIR JOBS,

Roger Motschenbacher, Bob Bennett, Fred Mignone

WE CARRIED A GUN AND A BADGE, AND BORE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THEM AND OUR NATION.

OVER THE COURSE OF OUR STAY ON THAT GERMAN HILL WE, WHO CAME TO SEMBACH AS STRANGERS BECAME FRIENDS, CELEBRATING ONE ANOTHER'S SUCCESS, AND SUFFERING EACH OTHER'S TRAGEDIES.

BY THE TIME WE CAME OFF THE HILL FOR THE LAST TIME, WE HAD GROWN TO MEN - BROTHERS UNDER A FLAG, AND BROTHERS BEHIND A BADGE.

SINCE OUR RETURN, 16 OF OUR NUMBER ARE NO LONGER WITH US. PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ONCE SAID: "A NATION REVEALS ITSELF NOT ONLY BY THE MEN IT PRODUCES, BUT ALSO BY THE MEN IT HONORS, THE MEN IT REMEMBERS."

Steve Turner, Steve Minger

HERE TODAY AMONG THOSE OF US WHO REMAIN, IT IS FITTING THAT WE TAKE A MOMENT IN REMEMBERENCE OF THESE 16 AIR POLICEMEN WHO HAVE STOOD THEIR FINAL GUARDMOUNT.

IN THE WORDS OF POET LAWRENCE BINYON . . . "THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD, AS WE THAT ARE LEFT.

AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN. AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM."

THE LEGACY OF THEIR, AND OUR SERVICE IS A WORLD MUCH DIFFERENT TODAY. AND NOWHERE IS THAT LEGACY MORE EVIDENT THAN IN EUROPE, WHICH HAS UNDERGONE A REMARKABLE TRANSFORMATION. FORMER COMMUNIST NATIONS, FINALLY FREE TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN WAY, HAVE EAGERLY TURNED TOWARD THE WEST. THREE FORMER WARSAW PACT COUNTRIES -- THE CZECH REPUBLIC, HUNGARY, AND POLAND -- HAVE TRANSFORMED THEMSELVES SO RAPIDLY AND SUCCESSFULLY THAT THEY ARE NOW NATO ALLIES.

SO IN CLOSING I SAY TO THOSE ASSEMBLED HERE, BOTH IN FACT OR IN SPIRIT.HOLD YOUR HEAD HIGH. TOGETHER WE, THE YOUNG MEN OF YESTERDAY, STOOD ON THE FRONTIER OF DEMOCRACY AND HELPED BIRTH THE CHILD OF FREEDOM.

By,

Steve Minger

Sembach SP Veteran