Steven Kuykendall: “the point I would like everyone to think about in honoring these young G.I.s of America is they are young. Because we do…”

“the point I would like everyone to think about in honoring these young G.I.s of America is they are young. Because we do not fight wars with old people. They are always young. They are young men and young women who serve in the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, Merchant Marines. And they have all been recognized in various times for combat actions that they were involved in, or some were recognized because they showed up. And thank goodness they did not have a combat action during their time in the service. We all need to think and look around. If we look at some of us now, we are a little older, we are a little wider, our hair is a little grayer, or we have lost some of it. But today there are young men and women doing the same thing that these veterans did starting clear back at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th. And it was America's commitment, America's commitment of its youth all across the world, that defended freedom and democracy. We were never committed in an imperialistic mode. We were always committed to keep a country free, regain its freedom, retain the right to have a free election in their country. That is the reason these young men and women should be America's person of the century. They were young.”