WEBVTT

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Morning everybody . I'm not going to

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give a remark or speeches . I know

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you're all very upset about that , but

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I just want to get to personally thank

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all of you for coming here today . I

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want to thank Deputy Secretary of the

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Remmy , Mr Jan Scruggs , Mr Jim Knott .

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I want to especially thank our senior

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enlisted advisors from all our services

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for coming out . Your chiefs came out

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last year , a great job and the

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representation you're showing today for

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our service is just amazing . So thank

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you all for coming out today . Most

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importantly , I want to thank our Gold

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Star family members that you're

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escorting . And I want to thank all the

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gold star family members and Vietnam

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veterans that are in attendance today .

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Every day is Vietnam Veterans Day for

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you folks as is every day , memorial

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day for our gold star family members .

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So again , thank you all for coming out .

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May God bless all of you and have a

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great day . Thanks ,

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ladies and gentlemen , I would now like

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to introduce the founder of the Vietnam

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Veterans Memorial Fund , Mister Jan

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Struck .

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That's right . Let us strive to heal

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the nation and to seek a

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just and lasting peace among ourselves

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and among nations , these are the words

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of Abraham Lincoln who is commemorated

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in my , to my right . And can you

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imagine a better place to be right now

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and a better group of people ? I can't ,

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I just love the people here . I

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appreciate what you've been through for

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your country . And God .

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Mhm .

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Ladies and gentlemen , it is my honor

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to introduce the ninth Deputy Secretary

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of the Department of Veterans Affairs ,

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Deputy Secretary Donald Remy . Deputy

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Secretary Remmy is an army veteran

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himself who comes from a long line of

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military service . His father is a

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retired army master sergeant who was

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awarded the bronze star in Vietnam .

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Sir . We thank you for attending

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today's ceremony .

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All of those quicker remarks , I feel

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badly that I prepared some remarks here ,

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but I do have some things to say . And

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thank you . I associate myself with all

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the comments that were made previously

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and all the thanks that have been given

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to everyone here . Chairman Boss . I

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see you back there . Thank you for

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being here and all your tireless

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support for our veterans . Good morning

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to everyone mention was made of master

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sergeant , Donald , whose namesake , I

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hope my father who was a Vietnam vet

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and served valiantly in Vietnam and who

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I will leave tonight to go see on this

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most auspicious day and it's befitting

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for that . So this day , this ceremony ,

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all of it has a really , really special

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meeting for me . A special meeting for

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my family and I know a special meeting

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for the gold star families who are here

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and those who are not here 50 years ago

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today , Hanoi freed those last

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heroic prisoners of war . Indeed . 50

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years ago today , MCV cased its

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colors . 50 years ago . Today , we've

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seen a lot since then , the decades

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have come and they will pass . But we ,

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we will never forget , never forget the

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58,281

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of your brothers and sisters in arms ,

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their names inscribed on the black

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granite panels we see around us who

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gave their last full measure of

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devotion to this nation for each other .

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For all of us . We will never forget

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our Vietnam War gold star families who

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endure , continue to endure such

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unimaginable loss . We will never

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forget , we will never forget you . Our

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families are waiting to this day

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of their loved ones .

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1,581

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still missing in action or unaccounted

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for . And there are no words that can

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adequately express the depths of our

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gratitude for the service and enormous

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sacrifices that you and your fellow

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veterans have made for putting your

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lives on the line for all of us , for

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giving so much and giving up so much

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on behalf of everyone here , on

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behalf of all Americans , every one of

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us owes you our deepest gratitude .

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Profound thanks are long overdue for

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those dark days when too many Americans ,

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too many Americans turn their backs on

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our American heroes on behalf of the

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Department of Veterans Affairs . I want

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to say thank you . I wanna say thank

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you and welcome home .

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Welcome home . May God bless you all .

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May God bless all of our veterans , our

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gold star families , all of our

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military veterans and all of their

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caregivers and survivors . Thank you

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very much for today

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that

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ladies and gentlemen , please allow me

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to now introduce chaplain Colonel

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Foster from the military district of

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Washington who will lead us in vacation .

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Yeah , I invite you to

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join me first of all , in a moment of

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silence , as we reflect on honor , on

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healing and on peace , I'll finish that

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silence with a prayer and I invite you

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to join me .

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Ok . Almighty

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God , I stand here today in this

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hallowed ground with a sense of pride .

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Knowing this grateful nation remembers

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the sacrifices made by our sons and

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daughters in the country of Vietnam and

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even here on our own soil . During

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those difficult days , God , I lift up

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today . Those that are still paying the

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price like our veterans ,

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our gold star parents , spouses ,

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Children and siblings that are present

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here today . God , so many have

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remained faithful to you and to this

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nation in the midst of pain and grief .

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A lot of hard work was done by the

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Vietnam War commemoration so that a

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grateful nation could provide a much

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deserved honor and recognition to the

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faithful souls present

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past and yet unaccounted for

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on this day in 2023 and for every year

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to follow , bless them and their

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efforts to bring peace into hearts and

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minds . God , you said that in life ,

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two are better , stronger , safer than

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one and three strands in a cord are not

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easily broken . Continue unite us and

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give us strength for the new day For

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you have not given us a spirit of fear ,

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but of power and of love and a sound

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mind . Thank you for all that you've

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given . Thank you for the blessings on

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our nation and its people . Thank you

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for the men and women willing to

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sacrifice their lives and to display

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for the world to see the ultimate

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example of love . Help us dear Lord

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as we continue to do our very best in

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your name , I pray amen men .

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At this time , we asked the senior

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enlisted advisors and their gold star

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family members to link up with their

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escorts .

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I ask that you make yourself easily

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identifiable if you're not

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participating . We just ask you to step

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back until we begin moving to the wall .

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Could you tell ?

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That's crazy . I did .

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Ladies and gentlemen , if you're not

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participating in the ceremony ,

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no , it's not ,

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it's not . This is as far as it goes .

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So this is as sharp as it's going to

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get .

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Yeah .

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Right .

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Yeah .

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30 . This

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right . Thank you very much .

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Something . Sure .

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Yeah . Yeah .

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Yeah ,

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I agree .

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See

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that case . Yeah . Right .

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I still keep in touch .

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You get it . Ok .

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Ok .

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Glad to meet you . This really

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does mean to me this is not one of

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those details for me and

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stuff like that . I did last year . I

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volunteered , you know , ma was going

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to be here but the same with this year

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and they said , hey , could you do it ?

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I'm like everything's off and I do

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appreciate it .

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The beat .

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Yeah , this is , oh , that's correct .

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So it's share , share .

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It's actually Ukraine didn't know that

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until I started looking . So I knew I

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had family members that came from

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Corsica off the coast of Italy . So

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back then when the Spaniards ,

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everybody was coming to South .

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Thank you . Can I get the little , as a

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matter of fact , I think I might have .

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That's ok . I just want to

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and .