Mike joins us today from raleigh, north carolina. He has been conducting history Resource Research at various repositories. He is the coauthor of 10 books and recipient of the author of the year award from the u. S. Naval institute. Please join me in welcoming him. [applause] wagner as ive said before as i said before its , an extraordinary honor to present the navy memorial, and for this institution. Navy history means a lot to me. In particular, it means a lot to my coauthor, robert, who is the head of editing for the dictionary of American Fighting ships at the naval history and her touch command, and he has been my mentor over many years. We are like brothers. He has commented often that i am the brother he never had, so we love each other deeply, and our love of naval history runs equally as deep. From exodus, third chapter, fifth verse, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. During the centennial celebration of the american civil