Hank's speech for Veterans Day 2011 at the Old Decatur Courthouse

Veterans Day celebration 2011

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, it's great to be with you on DeKalb's Veterans Day 2011 celebration.

Every Veterans Day, Americans come together to remember those who have served and sacrificed for our country around the world.

Our debt to them is immeasurable. Their sacrifices and the sacrifices of their families protect us and our freedom.

Thousands of American service members remain deployed abroad and thousands need us now that they have returned home.

Now, more than ever, we renew our commitments to the nation’s more than 2 million service members and reservists, their families, and 23 million veterans, including more than 770,000 here in Georgia and more than 50,000 in the Fourth District.

As memorialize all of our veterans from wars past, let us also honor the more than 4,400 Americans who have died in Iraq, the more than 1,800 who have died in Afghanistan, the 32,000 U.S. troops wounded in Iraq and 14,600 wounded in Afghanistan.

With hundreds of thousands of our veterans returning from foreign battlefields to face a tough economy at home, we must ensure that they get the support they have earned.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I promise to do everything I can to support our Veterans and their families. Everything I do on Armed Services, I do with Veterans first and foremost in my mind.

Thank you.

Pictured above: Hank receives the 2011 Veterans Champion Award from Mike Sauls, chair of the DeKalb County Veterans Advisory Board, for his work on veterans' issues as a member of the Armed Services Committee and for his advocacy on behalf of veterans in the district.

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