On Monday, May 28, 2012, Deputy
Secretary of State Bill Burns will lay a wreath at the Vietnam War
Commemoration National Announcement and Proclamation Ceremony at the Vietnam
War Memorial in Washington, DC.
Congress tasked the Department of
Defense to lead the United States in commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the
Vietnam War. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta will host this ceremony to
thank and honor America’s Vietnam Veterans on behalf of a grateful nation.
President Obama will be the keynote speaker at the event which will include
2,500 Vietnam Veterans, their loved ones, current and former State officials
who served at the Embassy, Gold Star families and leadership from the military
services, Cabinet and Congress. In addition to President Obama, the ceremony
will feature remarks by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin
Dempsey, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Senator Chuck Hagel; a moment of
silence; music; and ceremonial elements. Other government officials laying
wreaths will include Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Secretary of Interior
Ken Salazar, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, and Secretary of
Transportation Ray LaHood.
Actor Tom Selleck will serve as Master
of Ceremonies. Ms. Cindy Coleman, wife of the late Foreign Service Officer
Joseph Fandino, who served at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam from 1971-1972 and
passed away at Bien Hoa Air Force Base in 1972, will lay a wreath with Deputy
Secretary Burns.
No comments:
Post a Comment