Veterans Day
Dear CFISD Community,
On this Veterans Day, I wanted to express my sincerest thanks for the service and sacrifice of all the men and women of the Armed Forces. In memory of those who have yet to return, we have dedicated a special chair of remembrance. Thank you to our communication and operations departments and our Air Force JROTC detachments for their support and help in honoring our Prisoners of War and Missing in Action POW/MIA men and women. They did a marvelous job placing the POW/MIA chairs, creating a video, and honoring our missing servicemen and women! Here is the link celebrating their sacrifice and announcing the placement of the chairs at both stadiums in CFISD:
I wanted to share a few thoughts for our veterans and their dependents during this Veterans Day week. The words below come from a speech I made some years ago at a Veterans Day remembrance ceremony.
Good morning; it is both an honor and a pleasure to speak to all of you on this great Marine Corps birthday and Veterans Day remembrance.
Veterans Day is very special to me and my family. You see, I grew up as a military brat. Hearing daily playing of “Reveille,” “Retreat,” or “Taps” was the norm. I remember stopping whatever we were doing, even if we were driving in a car at 1630 hours facing the flag and placing my hand over my heart and listening to “Retreat” being played over the PAs. It’s still weird for me to go to a movie off base and NOT rise and have the national anthem played right before the movie rolled. Or hearing Taps played as the sun set signaling the end of the day.
So, honoring the service and sacrifices veterans and their families have made for me is part of my DNA … or at the very least, my upbringing.
Service and sacrifice. Those words are thrown around a lot in today’s world. It seems some would think service is done in a one-day trash-off, or leaving your cell phone at home and going without it for a day. Our military families have a broader definition of those two words than we civilians experience on a daily basis.
Service:
I learned what service meant from my dad, Melvin D. Killian, Msgt USAF Ret. He showed me every day what it meant as he donned his uniform for alerts, deployments, transfers, and moves, heading to duty at odd times of the day and night and staying in until he retired. However, I heard his own voice one morning in 1976 at a flag ceremony outside Oro Grande, California, just off base next to George AFB.
Dad excitedly got us up one weekend and took us off base to this site in the middle of the desert next to the base. Not telling us where we were going or what we were doing, we pulled into a makeshift parking area and there I caught a glimpse of it … the largest American flag hanging from two poles on the side of a sandy hill. We walked to the viewing area and stood as they described the flag and its construction. Did he say the stars were five feet tall each? Patriotic music played, and I saw my father cry for the first time in my life. I asked what was wrong, and he said he remembered all the men and women who served. It made an impact.
I know it’s in vogue right now to use the anthem as a protest, and I understand and am thankful for the right in this country to do that. However, I stand and salute the flag to honor the service of my father… to honor:
- Grandpa Lee Roy Reeves, US Army WWII
- Uncle Don Killian, TSgt USAF Ret. Vietnam
- Uncle Billy Killian, US Army and Korean War vet
- Uncle Don Worrell, US Army vet
- Uncle Irvin Killian, US Army
- Uncle Marvin Killian, US Army
- Uncle Roy Reeves, USMC Ret.
- Aunt Sharon Reeves, USMC Ret.
- Uncle Mike Mann, USMC vet
- Uncle Pete Peterson, USAF
- And stand to honor their service as well as all the friends, brothers and sisters in arms. Lest we forget…
Sacrifice:
Sacrifice is the other item I wish to thank our veterans for today. Sacrifices come in so many sizes for veterans. It’s not just the lives given or the blood lost for our military men and women.
As a kindergartner, I saw first-hand what they give on the move from Kadena AFB in Okinawa, Japan, to Derby, Kansas.
We had just moved into our new base assignment. I was going into kindergarten that year, looking forward to watching real American football that season, when Dad came in to tell us he was being sent TDY (Temporary Duty Yonder) to Iceland for an isolated tour. Yep, no family. And we had just moved to a new place where I knew no one, and mom had a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old on her own. A year without my dad. So many dependents know that separation and feeling.
Being told to be the man of the house at 5, riding out a tornado with my mom that year, and having no dad to explain football to me was a challenge.
All of our veterans and their families have faced even greater challenges, and I’m thankful for their sacrifice.
- Thank you to our servicemen and women for all the tea parties missed with their daughters due to being on alert.
- Thanks for missing all those games of catch with your son or daughter while deployed overseas.
- Thank you and your families for having to pick up roots again and again to keep us safe. Words cannot express the debt owed for a life given in the protection of a fellow sailor, soldier, marine or airman.
- appreciate the missed hugs from a spouse or dependent because you were standing watch for us, and for all the transfers from post to post and assignment to assignment.
- Thanks to the families for the moves you made and all the personal effects you had to give up because they exceeded the weight limit allowed by the service.
- We are thankful for the blood spilled, the tears shed, and the sweat given to secure our freedom, and for all the night-night kisses you will never get back.
- I, and I think we, give thanks this day for all of our veterans.
- My dad, Mel Killian, who served 20 years in the Air Force, died the day after Veterans Day. So, this week is a reminder of that service and sacrifice.
- I can’t thank him anymore for his leadership, service, and sacrifice. But I can thank all of his fellow brothers and sisters in arms here today. May God bless you and hold you in his comforting arms. And may each of you find your own measure of peace and comfort for:
- the time lost from family and friends,
- the loss of loved ones and comrades, and
- all the service and sacrifices you have seen.
Thank you…
"America without her soldiers would be like God without his angels”. – Claudia Pemberton
In the best interest of children,
Douglas Killian, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools
Veterans Day
Dear CFISD Community,
On this Veterans Day, I wanted to express my sincerest thanks for the service and sacrifice of all the men and women of the Armed Forces. In memory of those who have yet to return, we have dedicated a special chair of remembrance. Thank you to our communication and operations departments and our Air Force JROTC detachments for their support and help in honoring our Prisoners of War and Missing in Action POW/MIA men and women. They did a marvelous job placing the POW/MIA chairs, creating a video, and honoring our missing servicemen and women! Here is the link celebrating their sacrifice and announcing the placement of the chairs at both stadiums in CFISD:
I wanted to share a few thoughts for our veterans and their dependents during this Veterans Day week. The words below come from a speech I made some years ago at a Veterans Day remembrance ceremony.
Good morning; it is both an honor and a pleasure to speak to all of you on this great Marine Corps birthday and Veterans Day remembrance.
Veterans Day is very special to me and my family. You see, I grew up as a military brat. Hearing daily playing of “Reveille,” “Retreat,” or “Taps” was the norm. I remember stopping whatever we were doing, even if we were driving in a car at 1630 hours facing the flag and placing my hand over my heart and listening to “Retreat” being played over the PAs. It’s still weird for me to go to a movie off base and NOT rise and have the national anthem played right before the movie rolled. Or hearing Taps played as the sun set signaling the end of the day.
So, honoring the service and sacrifices veterans and their families have made for me is part of my DNA … or at the very least, my upbringing.
Service and sacrifice. Those words are thrown around a lot in today’s world. It seems some would think service is done in a one-day trash-off, or leaving your cell phone at home and going without it for a day. Our military families have a broader definition of those two words than we civilians experience on a daily basis.
Service:
I learned what service meant from my dad, Melvin D. Killian, Msgt USAF Ret. He showed me every day what it meant as he donned his uniform for alerts, deployments, transfers, and moves, heading to duty at odd times of the day and night and staying in until he retired. However, I heard his own voice one morning in 1976 at a flag ceremony outside Oro Grande, California, just off base next to George AFB.
Dad excitedly got us up one weekend and took us off base to this site in the middle of the desert next to the base. Not telling us where we were going or what we were doing, we pulled into a makeshift parking area and there I caught a glimpse of it … the largest American flag hanging from two poles on the side of a sandy hill. We walked to the viewing area and stood as they described the flag and its construction. Did he say the stars were five feet tall each? Patriotic music played, and I saw my father cry for the first time in my life. I asked what was wrong, and he said he remembered all the men and women who served. It made an impact.
I know it’s in vogue right now to use the anthem as a protest, and I understand and am thankful for the right in this country to do that. However, I stand and salute the flag to honor the service of my father… to honor:
- Grandpa Lee Roy Reeves, US Army WWII
- Uncle Don Killian, TSgt USAF Ret. Vietnam
- Uncle Billy Killian, US Army and Korean War vet
- Uncle Don Worrell, US Army vet
- Uncle Irvin Killian, US Army
- Uncle Marvin Killian, US Army
- Uncle Roy Reeves, USMC Ret.
- Aunt Sharon Reeves, USMC Ret.
- Uncle Mike Mann, USMC vet
- Uncle Pete Peterson, USAF
- And stand to honor their service as well as all the friends, brothers and sisters in arms. Lest we forget…
Sacrifice:
Sacrifice is the other item I wish to thank our veterans for today. Sacrifices come in so many sizes for veterans. It’s not just the lives given or the blood lost for our military men and women.
As a kindergartner, I saw first-hand what they give on the move from Kadena AFB in Okinawa, Japan, to Derby, Kansas.
We had just moved into our new base assignment. I was going into kindergarten that year, looking forward to watching real American football that season, when Dad came in to tell us he was being sent TDY (Temporary Duty Yonder) to Iceland for an isolated tour. Yep, no family. And we had just moved to a new place where I knew no one, and mom had a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old on her own. A year without my dad. So many dependents know that separation and feeling.
Being told to be the man of the house at 5, riding out a tornado with my mom that year, and having no dad to explain football to me was a challenge.
All of our veterans and their families have faced even greater challenges, and I’m thankful for their sacrifice.
- Thank you to our servicemen and women for all the tea parties missed with their daughters due to being on alert.
- Thanks for missing all those games of catch with your son or daughter while deployed overseas.
- Thank you and your families for having to pick up roots again and again to keep us safe. Words cannot express the debt owed for a life given in the protection of a fellow sailor, soldier, marine or airman.
- appreciate the missed hugs from a spouse or dependent because you were standing watch for us, and for all the transfers from post to post and assignment to assignment.
- Thanks to the families for the moves you made and all the personal effects you had to give up because they exceeded the weight limit allowed by the service.
- We are thankful for the blood spilled, the tears shed, and the sweat given to secure our freedom, and for all the night-night kisses you will never get back.
- I, and I think we, give thanks this day for all of our veterans.
- My dad, Mel Killian, who served 20 years in the Air Force, died the day after Veterans Day. So, this week is a reminder of that service and sacrifice.
- I can’t thank him anymore for his leadership, service, and sacrifice. But I can thank all of his fellow brothers and sisters in arms here today. May God bless you and hold you in his comforting arms. And may each of you find your own measure of peace and comfort for:
- the time lost from family and friends,
- the loss of loved ones and comrades, and
- all the service and sacrifices you have seen.
Thank you…
"America without her soldiers would be like God without his angels”. – Claudia Pemberton
In the best interest of children,
Douglas Killian, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools