EXCLUSIVE: New America 250 monument lets families find military relatives in seconds: ‘I had tears in my eyes’
Bob Labrutta, a retired Air Force major general who now serves as USAA’s vice president of survivorship, said that reaction is exactly what organizers hoped visitors would experience.
After nearly four decades in uniform, Labrutta said he thought he understood what the monument represented until he searched for members of his own family.
“I’ve got two brothers that served,” he said. “But when I brought my dad’s name up on the side of the wall and I saw him commemorated… I had tears in my eyes and my heart filled with pure joy and pride. Pride in this country. Pride in USAA for doing this.”
“Because this is what we should be doing each and every day: honoring, thanking and paying tribute to the military members who have served this nation so nobly.”
Labrutta said the installation was intentionally designed to honor not only decorated military leaders but the millions of Americans whose service often goes unrecognized.
“I wouldn’t say our soldiers are ordinary,” he said. “Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guard members, our Guardians—none of them are ordinary.”
“When they raise their right hand, they say not only, ‘Send me,’ but ‘I’m willing to give up my life for this great country.’ That makes them extraordinary.”
While the monument was created during the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration, Labrutta said its purpose extends beyond America’s 250th birthday.
“It doesn’t just apply to military families,” he said. “It applies to all American citizens.”
“We wouldn’t have had an Independence Day if we wouldn’t have had citizens that raised their hand and said, ‘You know what? This is worth fighting for.'”
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Generation after generation, he said, Americans have protected the freedoms the country enjoys today.
“This is not only for our veterans and for their families,” Labrutta said. “This is for all Americans to embrace and to honor.”
Jasmine Baehr is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital, where she covers politics, the military, legal debates surrounding life and family policy, as well as faith and culture.
Article source: https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/exclusive-new-america-250-monument-lets-families-find-military-relatives-seconds-tears-eyes