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A sacred duty to honor and remember
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Posted on May 29 2019
Editor’s Note: The following is the prepared remarks of Lt. Gov. Arnold Palacios at the Memorial Day ceremony last Monday, May 27, 2019, at the Veterans Cemetery in Marpi.
I want to extend a warm welcome to our military families, our dignitaries, and everyone present today. Thank you for joining us on this solemn day of remembrance.
Today, we are gathered here on this sacred ground to honor the lives and deeds of some of our country’s and our islands’ greatest heroes: the men and women who laid down their lives for freedom and who contributed so much to the greater good for us all.
We join the families to pay tribute to their service and remember their sacrifices. To every family here today, our islands thank you and keep you in our prayers. We will never forget our heroes.
As a free people, we have a sacred duty to honor and remember our brave heroes, who have given their last full measure of devotion in defense of our country, freedom, and everything we stand for.
We salute every soldier who served to protect our islands, and we offer a renewed call towards friendship and peace. Our fallen heroes have shaped the future of our islands by giving us an opportunity to make this place better for our children and grandchildren.
This is why every year we come here to this sacred ground to remember all they have done for us. Our islands and our country are stronger and safer because of them. We will never forget. We will always remember. May they rest in peace.
Thank you all. May God bless the families here today, may God bless our military, and may God bless the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
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Arnold Palacios is the lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
