Thanks (Representative) Eric (Bedingfield) for that kind introduction.

And thank you for the invitation to join you here.  It is an honor to mark this important day with you. 

I've been thinking now for a while about what I could say that would truly honor this day...and the Americans in which we pause to remember.

And I keep coming back to two words:  profound gratitude.

Eric just mentioned, Susan and I are recently back from three-and-a-half years in Canada where we learned so very much about our neighbors to the North. 

But more than anything else we returned home to all of you humbled and grateful that we had this opportunity to step back and view our country from afar.   Because everything we saw and learned reinforced to us how deeply privileged we are to be Americans and how very much we owe those who served and died to secure the unique blessings God has bestowed upon us.

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