thank you, jane. we are also joined today by david and rose beyers, the parents of major andrew beyers. as a boy, andrew dreamed of the chance to attend the united states military academy at west point. he worked hard, he earned that chance and he graduated at the top of his class. he became the commander of a special halo team, leading his fellow soldiers out of aircraft, hurdling into dangers and unknown territory. about this time last year, andrew was sent on his third combat deployment. this time he went to afghanistan. on november 3rd, he was one of
ten special forces to land by helicopter near a taliban safehaven in northern afghanistan. they trekked through a mile of waist-deep mud and climbed a steep cliff before finally reaching the village that they wanted to reach. there a night-long battle ensued. andrew and his team fought off wave after wave of fighters. a grenade detonated as the taliban began to surround the american and afghan forces. andrew ran through the smoke and through the hail of bullets to rescue an afghan soldier. in the midst of this torrent of gunfire and danger, andrew worked heroicicly to open a
gateway and get his men to safety risking his life to save theirs. and he did it. unbelievably, he did it. but in saving those lives, andrew was killed right then and there by enemy fire. andrew has since been awarded the silver star for gallantry in battle. to his parents, david and rose, we stand in awe of your son and his courageous sacrifice. on behalf of the american people, i express to you our everlasting gratitude for what your son did for his country, for his comrades and for all of us. andrew s father has said that he holds onto the promise of joshua
point they were angels sent to us by god. and called them heroes. he went on then to profile and talk about the sacrifices made by some of those including specialist chris horton whose wife jane was in attendance as well as a member of the special forces andrew buyers whose parents were there, as well. so a very moving tribute by president trump to just highlight some of the sacrifices of those families including that of general john kelley, homeland security secretary john kelley whose son robert also died on the fields of afghanistan. so a very moving tribute there. i want to bring in with us malcolm nance, combat veteran as well as jack jacobs. malcolm, your initial reactions and thoughts to the president s speech that was struck. well, it was a good speech. and i appreciate that he paid tribute to the gold star families. he had trouble with the gold star families last year during
to every gold star family, god is with you, and your loved ones are with them. they died in war so that we could live in peace. i believe that god has a special place in heaven for those who lay down their lives so that others may live free from fear and this horrible oppression. now let us pledge to make the most of that freedom that they so gallantly and so brilliantly fought for, and they died to protect. let us also pledge to tell the stories of robert, chris, andrew and all of america s fallen