Subscribe
The National Exchange Club dedicated a Freedom Shrine during a ceremony at the Professional Development Center here, June 14.
Eleven local exchange clubs worked together to bring replicas of more than 30 important national documents to Airman Leadership School students.
“We are extremely grateful to the exchange clubs for putting this together for our students,” said Master Sgt. Bryan Beers, ALS commandant. “We have over 2000 students a year come through this schoolhouse so everyone across all five wings on the installation are able to see a piece of American history and they’re able to get that historical focus as they move on to become supervisors.”
Members of the 11 local exchange clubs volunteered their personal time to assemble the documents on backgrounds and install all of the documents on the wall.
“What better place than to have [a Freedom Shrine] than at the school for the Airmen to become leaders,” said William Trimble, NEC Region 11 vice president. “Our freedom was earned at great cost by thousands of people over a span of hundreds of years. That is why the NEC thinks the Freedom Shrine is much more than just documents hanging in neat rows.”
The freedom shrine originated with the freedom train that toured the nation in 1947, carrying an exhibit of historical documents. The shrine serves as an education tool in schools and as a motivational display in public arenas. The shrine includes copies of documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and the Gettysburg Address.
U.S. Air Force Col. Caroline Miller, 633rd Air Base Wing commander, said she believes the documents hold a message of leadership for students.
“I think we should take a few minutes to read some of these documents that we did when we were going through school,” said Miller. “Now that we are all wearing the uniform and now that we do defend our freedom, it’ll probably mean a whole lot more to us today.”
| Date Taken: | 06.14.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 06.22.2016 12:46 |
| Story ID: | 202098 |
| Location: | LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 7 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Langley PDC receives historical Freedom Shrine, by MSgt Teresa Gallagher, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
LEAVE A COMMENT