Thank you for your patient. We got a little bit of a late start. Were going to have a great session this morning. Im the morning anchor. At the cbs affiliate here in washington, d. C. Im honored to be back as a moderator of the teachers conference. We did it last year as well. This is a very special occasion. Had a chance to meet some of these gentlemen. Im meeting some new friends this morning as well. Before we get under way and we honor our greatest generation and well go over the goals on what wed like to try to get done this morning, i would like to call up, before we get started, chairman of the friends of the World War Ii National memorial Josiah Bunting iii to say a few things. [ applause ] our greatest ally and most famous ally during the Second World War was winston churchill. Who famously said succeeding generations must not be allowed to forget their sacrifice and their example. And to me the beauty and the urgency of assemblies like this was people like this. Is in fulfill