the second time addressing the members of the press club was in support of the documentary film "brothers at war." and a third time as john said four years ago, when we first launched the foundation. so i guess i haven't burned any bridges at the press club yet. you keep asking me back. i would like to speak today about how far the foundation has come in those four years with the work the foundation is doing and what the future looks like as we continue to grow and i would like to emphasize how important it is to have nonprofits in the military support space as the military men and women continue to confront the dark forces of this world on many fun with long and -- many fronts with long and very tough deployment. at first i would like to acknowledge a few people here today, one of our board members. thank you for coming. i appreciate you being here . [applause] i have a very distinguished guest that john introduced, a friend of mine that is here today, general livingston was awarded the united states highest military decoration the medal of honor for a heroic action in 1968 during the vietnam war and on that fateful day, captain livingston and about 800 fellow marines ran up against a north vietnamese company of 10,000 strong enemy combatants. 10,000 against 800 marines. what the captain says was a fair fight. [laughter] during the fights after he was wounded three times through heavy fire and despite committee -- wounds coordinated attacks to destroy over 100 mutually supported enemy bunkers and repelled a savage attack and refused to be evacuated from the field until he was assured of the safety of his men and he would serve two combat tours in vietnam. he was presented in medal of honor in 1970 by president richard nixon. rising the ranks he retired as a major general. the philosophy is to lead from the front. he said if i'm willing to do it then i can ask you to do it. he never had a marine under his command, say to him i don't want to do this, following his example they all did their job and whenever he asked whatever he asked of them and performed superbly. that is true and inspiring leadership, so thank you for being here. [laughter] -- [applause] gary: we are truly grateful for everything you've given in service to the nation and i know we have several veterans today so i want to personally say thank you to all of our veterans for being here and stepping forward to serve our country. it's been said the united states of america will always be the land of the free as long as it is the home of the brave. the veterans have assured we are a free country. the community, the city, the country can only flora shifting of the peace to enjoy their life and liberty and have the opportunity to pursue their happiness. they work with commerce and trade and create an environment where each child's dream has to hope to be realized. we have seen a nation born of these ideas and from generation to generation it's shown itself to be the greatest, strongest and most prosperous nation on earth. the envy of the world. it wears the uniform and the united states of america is kept safe by the men and women of the united states military willing to serve and sacrifice so much of our way of life is secure and with these sacrifices being made each and every day, there comes much need. that is why today more than ever it's important to have successful nonprofits in the military support space. as the government alone cannot possibly fill all of its needs. there have been so many experiences that have led to realize we must be there for our men and women in uniform. after the tragic of fence -- events of sub some relevant wanting to do something supporting those in harm's way, i begin to volunteer for the uso. going on handshake to ours to let our military know they were shaded. -- appreciate it. during the thanksgiving holiday in 2009 i was visiting barred gram air force base in afghanistan, and the director of operations for united states central command providing oversight to all military operations throughout the centcom area of responsibility including iraq and afghanistan. he came to me and informed me that there would be an angel flight early the following morning for a fallen special forces soldier who had been killed in action. the general invited me to the ramp ceremony where the us military would load the casket of on american hero on a plane to repatriate his remains back to america. what my eyes saw and heartfelt that day has always stayed with me. i watched hundreds of american servicemen and women from all branches, most including myself never knew the soldier personally but gathered in formation in his honor to pay their respects and offer a farewell salute to a brave fellow american soldier. the mood was somber. the casket draped with an american flag was carried by eight members of his unit moving slowly and solemnly onto the plane. indeed, a sight to behold. members of his unit who the day before finding by his side placed his casket on the bed of a a c-17, kneel down around it and offered final prayers and farewells to the brother. and the rest of the formation followed suit rank by rank traveling up the ramp of the c 17 to pay their respects. it was my sobering honor to be by the general's side as we enter the plane and not down beside the casket. i was flooded with emotion for this young man and his family, the painful and sobering reminder of the cost of freedom. so in looking back on my own journey working with veterans groups in the chicago area in the 80s, supporting our wanted to the disabled american veterans organization in the 90s and post september 11 and often times bring home with them i began supporting many military charities and participating in many support concerts. in 2011 i brought my endeavors together to serve our veterans under one umbrella. in four years, we have been able to start numerous programs to help make an important difference in the lives of service members. building devices for our most severely wounded veterans through our restoring independence, supporting empowerment to putting on resiliency concerts at military hospitals to boost morale to raising the spirits of the children our fallen heroes providing emergency funding for needy military families, supporting 1st responders and communities all around the country. each day helping veterans, military families, and 1st responders find the strength of support they need to move forward in their lives and are impacting the communities that they live in. as john said when i last spoke here, i have been part of fundraising efforts to build three smart homes. some of the most catastrophically wounded service members, three of our quadruple amputees who had returned from iraq and afghanistan. i am proud to say that now of the five quadruple amputees from these wars, four are living in new homes, and a home is in progress for the 5th. by the end of 2015 the gary sinise foundation will have participated in the development or construction of up to 35 homes for those suffering very serious life-changing injuries. these homes give our wanted wounded heroes, their families caregivers their freedom and independence back. i i am proud to say prior to the creation of the foundation and four years since the lieut. dan band has performed 318 concerts worldwide in support of our nation's defenders and their families. 140 concerts for the uso and 178 fundraising and benefit concerts. we just performed at the hotel del coronado sunday night for a big veterans support concerts. the band is the band is part of our nonprofit and is now a program of the foundation. through our invincible spirit festivals which we put on at our nation's military medical centers complete with a live lieutenant dan band concert and a delicious cookout donated by celebrity chef robert irvine and the folks at the great food company cisco we have lifted over 50,000 spirits of heroes and their families, caregivers , hospital staff giving them a respite from the rigors of medical treatment and reminding them of the hope and positivity along the road to recovery. through our serving heroes program we have shown gratitude to our nation's defenders by serving him a hearty, classic american meal. today we have served over 27,700 meals to five major travel hubs across the nation where our deploying troops go through . we are looking to expand our efforts to include other venues at other airports throughout the country. our gary sinise foundation relief and resiliency program as has helped 1,294 veterans and their families through their times of urgent need. 162 children, family members of the fallen, 156 veterans, 944 wounded. with 1st responders outreach the gary sinise foundation has provided support to train 45 firefighters in black forest colorado after the devastating fires there, supporting the families of the hotshots in prescott, arizona after 19 firefighters were lost in a deadly firestorm, donated to lieut. dan vans to the fdny fire family transport foundation to transport ill and injured members of the fdny and their families to medical facilities and we have awarded six g to police, fire, and ems services. other programs include. our arts and entertainment outreach taking veterans to theater around the country for a free meal and a performance, and as part of our educational outreach we have a new world war ii program, a most recent partnership with the national world war ii museum in new orleans. gary sinise foundation has helped finance a historian who has to date recorded 35 world war ii veteran stories, oral histories preserved on video in a museum archive preserving america's history and their legacy. we will also include a trip next week for 50 world war ii veterans from california to see this magnificent museum built in their honor. we have come a long way in four short years and are impacting the lives of veterans and active-duty across the nation, ,. it is truly the most rewarding mission i've had in my life. one of the hardest things to come to terms with when you endeavor to a life of service is the enormity of the need that exists today. it has to be upon us and our communities to close the gap and meet that need. with all the bureaucracy inefficiencies and challenges currently being reported it is important that there are successful nonprofits in the military support space and that we engage encourage and inspire as many communities within this country is possible to address the needs. i applaud all the military nonprofits here today doing good work. during the conflicts in afghanistan and iraq we have seen remarkable advances in field medicine and care. while this may have reduced the number of casualties, many more have returned home injured or seriously wounded. as we have now been at war for the past 14 years. roughly 50,000 military personnel currently live among us bearing the severe ones of war physically and mentally. their struggles can affect the entire household and ongoing treatment can quickly become ruinously expensive. we have become aware of the startling shortfalls in the care these men and women often face. with the media they have provided troubling glimpses at the health related complications that veterans experience in seeking care, the bigger picture is alarming. survey data suggest survey data -- 71 percent of americans do not understand what combat veterans endure and 84 percent of veterans have said the public has little awareness of the challenges they face in life after combat. this suggests an urgent need to supplement existing support and raise public consciousness on a grassroots level. emotional trauma is at epidemic proportions. from 2,002 to 2012, 103,970 cases of posttraumatic stress were reported. according to a report from the department of veterans affairs an average of 42 american veterans continue to take their lives everyday physical injuries often compound emotional damage. in the same 2002 to 2012 time span, amputations were performed. this places tremendous stress on veterans families and loved ones often must take on the role caregivers and posttraumatic stress. maintain access to his or its systems is a daunting task. reentering society and finding employment is difficult to read more than half of all veterans report feeling disconnected. this sense of disconnect is a solvable problem. willingness to help and raising awareness where help is needed is an and horton first that. local citizens in every community need to connect with veterans and their families to provide support however possible . as citizens to benefit from what they do for us. it is our duty simply if every neighborhood in every community in every town and city in every state sought out the local veterans and offered their hand we would greatly reduce the problem and most likely have the problem solved. it is a dangerous and unpredictable world. we need to keep our military strong and ready to face the evils of this world that would seek to destroy our way of life. they are our freedom providers. as we know all know we all too often take our freedom for granted. i recently returned from either -- my third trip to korea. my 3rd visit to the dmz. a strange, very strange and sad place. this time while there, something happened that did not happen in my previous trips. as we came out of the building and approached the borderline two north korean guards came right up to the border search to take pictures of our group. i was 2 feet away. and could look directly into the eyes of these guards. haunting and sad. they know nothing but worship of the supreme leader and our are slaves to their master. perhaps there is no place on earth where one can feel a palpable difference between freedom and slavery more than standing on the border. north koreans know nothing nothing of freedom. for three generations, they have been oppressed by dictatorship and indoctrinated by regime that has an slave them and seal them off from the rest of the world. they have a military that is there to suppress the intake of -- them and take their freedoms away but the united states by , their side, like all of us here, the south koreans have a military that a military that is -- have a military news purpose is to protect freedoms and provide life, liberty, and the ability for every man, woman and child to pursue there ir happiness. education is the key to making sure our generation and future generations no the high cost of freedom and what our military men and women sacrifice and endured in providing in providing it as it is precious and we must never take it for granted. not everyone in this world gets to live like we do. is there any doubt there are evil forces in this world taht given the opportunity would do anything within their power to destroy what we have grown so accustomed to? freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. like our brave heroes of world war ii, when there were only two possible outcomes in the world at that time, tyranny or freedom , our defenders stand as guardians of all that we hold dear against another evil that beheads and crucifies christians punishes anyone who does not submit to their twisted view of the world. on october 22, 1962, addressing the nuclear threat posed by the soviet union and the us response to missiles in cuba president john f. kennedy said the path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all caps on, -- paths are, but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. the cost of freedom is always high, and americans have always paid it. one path that we shall never choose is the path of surrender or submission. today we face many threats to these insecurity. we are thankful to have american when two for men and women who are there to do the dangerous work necessary to ensure we remain free and secure. still, with a disconnect between the average american and its military, i believe education, educating our citizens and our youth as to what our military men and women in during combat with long deployments away from family and friends is in order. so that we better understand why it is critically important to support them and take care of. this is why i want to talk to you today about the importance of the metal of honor museum. the effort to build a national museum in mount pleasant south carolina. now, in retirement general livingston is very busy man. among other things he is a member of the board of directors of the medal of honor museum foundation. in addition, he comprise the museum's steering committee which will review all museum exhibits and programs to ensure they are consistent with the mission of the congressional medal of honor society, the society is the brotherhood of the 79 living medal of honor recipients. education can come in many forms. one way is through memorials and museums where the stories of those who served have a permanent place to have their voices heard. since the 1st medal of honor was awarded a march 25 1863, 25 million men and women have served during our nation's conflicts. fewer than 3,500 of them, less than 0.2 percent have received the medal of honor. those who wear the medal represent america's bravest and best of all who have served and sacrificed in defense of our nation. the stories offer lessons were for us all. how to live our lives with honor, integrity, and character. my my own history with the medal of honor society goes back to 2007. i have been humbled and honored to serve. now, through the invitation on a the board of directors as a national spokesperson for the effort. it has been my privilege and honor to get to know many recipients personally and hear their stories. to be among america's bravest to listen to them and interact with them has been a blessing and a true education. may have all shown me quiet strength and modesty. and they all say that they were the medal of honor not for themselves but for all those who fought so bravely and did not make it home. that we would remember them and their sacrifices. more that 18%, 646 of the medals awarded since 1863 have been presented posthumously. from the civil war until world war ii of the 2,418 medals awarded, just 3 percent, 83 were presented posthumously. from world war ii to the present , more than 60% have been awarded posthumously. 58% for world war ii. 73.8 percent in the korean war 62.9 percent in the vietnam war and 43.7 percent in the wars in iraq and afghanistan. within the last few decades the defense department has reviewed records of a number of potential medal of honor recipients who have been passed over in the past because of race, religion or ethnicity. as a result the number of african-american, hispanic japanese, and jewish servicemen have received long overdue recognition as medal of honor recipients. medal of honor recipients feel hail from every walk and every station in life, reflect the ethnic, cultural, economic religious, and educational diversity that is a hallmark of the american experience. all 50 states, the district of columbia, puerto rico, guam and half a dozen nations represented. more than 20 percent of recipients were born outside of the united states. today as i mentioned there are 79 living recipients. fewer than at any time since the civil war when the medal was 1st awarded. the oldest recipient is 94. the youngest, a veteran of the war in afghanistan, is 25. the average age is 71 years old. the medal of honor is the nation's highest award for valor in combat, the only military medal worn around the neck. its recipients are the only individuals with the president salutes as a matter of custom, awarded by the president in the name of congress to a member of the armed forces who distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in action against the united states. the medal of honor museum is in the works. why? to preserve the stories presenting them to new generations sorely in need of true heroes to look up to and emulate. to help visitors understand what it means to preserve service above health. and the price abov -- the meaning and the price of freedom. the future site is located in south or alina. directly across from the uss yorktown. visitors will have visitors will have multiple opportunities to meet and interact and learn from the recipients through film, videos, and dynamic elements and in-depth explorations personal of personal stories and experience that will honor and promote the ideals and values. two galleries will be devoted to the congressional medal of honor society character development and citizen honors programs to educate america's youth and citizenry. as one teacher recently commented on the character development program saying our children want to change the world on so many levels, the medal of honor curriculum offers them the tools and opportunity to do just that now and in the future. again, education is the key to helping the youth of america understand and be inspired by the valor and selfless acts of courage that those who are in earn the medal have so valiantly portrayed in the most harrowing of circumstances. i am honored to serve on the board of directors and as national spokesperson for this worthy and important project and encourage you to seek out more information by going to the metal of honor website. and for the gary's sinise foundation effort you can learn more at our website. james michener in his book writes of the heroes who fought in the korean conflict. in the book's final scene in an admiral stands on a darkened bridge of his carrier waiting for pilots he knows will never return from the mission. as he waits he asks in a silent darkness where do we get such men? today as i stand in the presence of general livingston and all our veterans today i ask again where do we find such men and women who were willing to go and i was way to keep us free? the answer is simple. we find them where we have always found them, in our villages and towns on our city streets and in our shops and on our farms. america's families defend us all. one generation fighting for america's future. one generation inspiring the next so that a young american would rise out of the communities and would dare to stand and say boldly and with conviction not on my watch. to those who stand guard to the right to know there is a grateful nation standing behind them and you may question whether the service will go unnoticed or who would ask, will our sacrifice, the sacrifices of our fallen, our wounded and military families be forgotten? i say, and i encourage all our fellow americans to say, not on my watch. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. each generation of war has prompted lessons learned, ptsd awareness out of world war ii and korea and separating troop support from war support coming out of vietnam. what do you think we should learn from the veterans of the war in iraq and afghanistan? >> thankfully, and i will they that. i have the nonveterans in my emily. -- vietnam veterans in my emily. -- family. i am motivated by what i learned from the vietnam veterans in my family years ago when they came home for more. a big catalyst supporting our iraq and afghanistan veterans in trying to ensure that they have the services they need to marshal the appreciation that they deserve. the shocking reality about how our vietnam veterans were treated. we have much to learn. as i said, there is a major epidemic within the military community of those suffering from posttraumatic stress. thankfully, there are a lot of services being provided. also within the military nonprofit space. part of my feeling about this is with the thousands of military charities nonprofit filling these gaps and trying to abide services, like service dogs for example who these dogs are very important for mental health. thankfully there are those nonprofits because we all know the challenges the va has. some wonderful people working but it is a challenging environment for the veterans. thankfully there are these military nonprofits that are trying to address the needs on multiple fronts. the organization is here today. providing a great service to the families of the fallen. there's a post traumatic stress involved for the iraq and afghanistan families. thankfully there are services that are being provided and i encourage anyone who is seeking service or help from the iraq and afghanistan community to continue passing on the information of where the services are provided. there is a lot to learn from those who served in the past war s and those that are serving now. we can never do enough for those that are serving the nation. there is a lot more to be done and we can always try to do a little bit more. >> with a decade of war winding down, how do you see the mission of your foundation changing as fewer and fewer combat veterans come out of the armed forces and with the wars winding down do you worry that it's going to become more difficult to get to the american people and the political system to appreciate and properly serve the veterans >> it already is more difficult. they continue to be deployed in harm's way yet they are off the front pages but the residual effects of the wars will last for decades as they continue from the previous war. we still have challenging environments from all of the war s. i've never been to combat, and i know many of the veterans have and it never leaves you and it never goes away. you can move beyond it but the more that we can keep consciousness and keep people aware of what is happening in the military community, the more services will continue to be provided. this is where the challenge becomes greatest. as we draw down and the leave -- alleve the battle space. the residual effect of the war will last for decades and we need the services to be provided continually. that's where somebody like me can come in and be useful. i can talk at the press club. express myself. get a public that form around to keep this awareness up. help as many military charities as i possibly can because the need is enormous. there are lots of unmet needs out there and we will continue to face the challenges. so, keeping awareness up is important and primary. thank you for having me today to be able to keep awareness up and talk to members of the press club about this. what you can do is keep in the consciousness of the american people. we are tired of war. we have been at war for 14 years. but our military continues to serve they continue to have challenges. military hospitals continue to serve those that have been injured years ago. i know people who have been going through rehabilitation for years. one of the families here are here today, we are going to be doing a home building project for them every single day. god bless you for serving the country. thank you for being here today. we can never do enough for you and what you've done. [applause] >> for those not familiar with the story please tell why you look on the leadership of this cause. to broaden that out, we talked about after 9/11 getting involved. was it really after 9/11, or did you have this passion going -- going up? talk about your evolution to where you are today as a servant of this effort. gary: it begins with the family members. on my side of the family, world war i veteran, my grandfather. he served driving an ambulance in france, i had two uncles in world war ii. my dad served in the navy on my wife's side, her brothers served in vietnam. i learned much from them. it is really the vietnam side that opened my eyes in the late 70s and early '80s because by that time the time i was old enough to absorb things as a young teenager, the family members on my side were well beyond their service. i don't remember my grandfather ever talking about world war i. i don't remember my uncle talking about world war ii until i started doing this work in the and then i would take him everywhere and give him talk. he would spend memorial day at the concert. he unfortunately passed away. this past october. as did my brother in law who was a combat that in vietnam. stayed in the army for 22 years. i learned so much from him and so much from my wife's two brothers. they've really got me thinking and so i got involved in the vietnam veterans groups in the 80s and in the chicago area supporting them. so, ten years later, i had an opportunity to audition for "forrest gump." i wanted to do that having veterans in my family and having been involved with the chicago area. so, luckily i got the part and that led me to an association with the disabled veterans as i said. that relationship goes back 20 years and then after september 11 when we were attacked, i just felt this is where i can employ my service to helping those that serve and those going out in response to those devastating attacks so i volunteered and started visiting the troops so this is decades old. it all came together four years ago when i created the foundation. now my objective here is to have this foundation to be here long after i'm gone serving and honoring the needs of the military and the veteran community. like i said, i don't think we can ever do enough for our freedom providers and this is a dangerous 21st century, and we are going to be facing a lot of challenges and the military will be called upon many times in the coming decades. >> the "washington post" recently ran a story headlined military tribute said baseball games. true honors or hollow gestures. how would you answer that question and also, talk about the change from after vietnam through today in the appreciation and recognition now received from what they once did. what has driven that change? >> i can't respond to the baseball game thing. i really don't know a lot about that. but, i think we learned some hard lessons from vietnam. and the general livingston stated in the military for 33 years. i know for my brother-in-law jack stayed for 22 years after vietnam it was a good place for him to be. but for my other brother-in-law who was a helicopter pilot, he got out after his tour, and it was very, very challenging for him to try to blend in and forget he wasn't a vietnam veteran, which at that time, so many had to do. so, it was a challenging time, and our nation treated the veterans in a shameful manner and it was a difficult time for our country and for the veterans. it was a hard time, very difficult time for the marines. but we learned i think the reason that you see over 40,000 military nonprofits today, and there are over 40,000 that have popped up in the last 14 years. and i think that one of the reasons is because people are aware of what happened in the late 60s and 70s when they were treated poorly. and like me, many of them wanted to dive in and prevent that from happening to the servicemembers in iraq and afghanistan. education as i was saying is such an incredible part of letting young people to understand why it's important to support this .1% of the population that serves in the military. it's a very small percentage of over 300 million people serving in uniform defending the country. and a lot of people if they don't have a personal connection like i do to somebody that is serving in the military, there's a disconnect. there is a serious disconnect between the average american citizen, and in its military. keeping the awareness up for the education of that's why i'm supporting the foundation museum. the museum project will act as a beacon of education for both service and selflessness and character is all about. we want our young people to understand something greater than themselves. that doesn't mean it always applies to war and the war fighter. the legacy of the metal of honor is about more than this. that is why the museum project and why i'm supporting and why i encourage you to go to the museum to learn more about it. we have a national world war ii museum. honoring service of our veterans. educating our young people as to what happened when freedom and tyranny were the only choices in the world grid i think this museum will be a great education people. >> we just have a few minutes left and when i ask you a question or two about hollywood i just have some housekeeping. the national press club is the leading organization journalist and we fight for a free rest worldwide. for more information visit the website at press.org. to donate to our nonprofit to two,t, visit the institute. the archbishop will discuss the hope francis -- pope francis's -- on june 20 and for the next two saturdays after that, the journalism institute will hold a series of training sessions on cybersecurity and on july 8 the washington capitals coach will address the national press club luncheon. i would now like to present our traditional national press club mug. [applause] >> those of course are very special and valuable gifts and you now have four of them so you are working on the set. in the time remaining i wanted to ask you mentioned you could use your celebrity status to promote causes and of course you keep working on that end of your career as well and you have a new series of coming. could you tell us a little bit about this new tv series that you are beginning? >> oh yeah, the day job. well csi new york went off the , air in february of 2013. so, since then, i have been pouring all of my energy into the military and the veteran support foundation, traveling around the country raising awareness and that sort of thing but i was approached by cbs about doing a pilot for a spinoff of the show criminal minds. so we shot the pilot and it was an episode of the series where they introduced a team of the international division and the fbi and the behavioral analysis unit and they picked us up so i'm going back to work july 27 we start shooting in california and we will explore the international division as i said so every week we will be in a different country chasing bad guys and trying to protect americans. [applause] >> and in preparation for this role you are doing some work out here as well. gary: yes. tomorrow i am going to the fbi and i will be getting some briefings, meeting with people doing research for the part and this will be my first time there. i am very much looking forward to it. one of the technical advisors has taken me there. he is an fbi guy who moonlights as a writer. >> please join me and giving a round of applause to the speaker today. [applause] >> i would also like to thank the staff including the journalism institute and broadcast center for organizing today's event. if you would like a copy of today's program or to learn more about the national press club, you can go to the website press.org and again i want to thank all of the service organizations that have joined us today for this practice and it's made it extra special. we at the national press club are grateful for all of the work that you do. thank you so much. we are adjourned. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> here are just a few of our featured programs for the holiday weekend. on saturday night at 8:00, an interview with our center -- the new york times publisher. sunday night members of the church committee. walter mondale and gary hart on their efforts to reform the intelligence community. on book tv, carol berkin on why the bill of rights was created. sunday at on quote in depth -- he has written over a dozen books. including "clinton cash." on c-span3, here a brooklyn college classroom lecture on the revolutionary war. sunday afternoon at 4:00, a look back at a 1960 film featuring joe brown about a nationwide search for old circus wagons. and the effort to restore them in time for a july worth parade. get the complete schedule at c-span.org. >> like many of us, first families take vacation time. like presence and first ladies, -- presidents and first ladies a good read can be the perfect companion. first ladies -- presidential historians on the lives he five iconic women. inspiring stories of fascinating women. a great summertime read. available from public affairs as a hardcover or e-book. >> coming up next, the congressional gold medal ceremony honoring the two little -- doolittle tokyo raiders. later, a chance to hear about veterans issues with gary sinise . house and senate readers held a gold-medal ceremony honoring the doolittle tokyo raiders. the 80 man unit conducted the first air raids on japan in april 1842, or months after the attack on pearl harbor. two volunteers are still alive today. this is 50 minute. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the majority leader of the u.s. senate, mitch mcconnell. [applause] senator mcconnell: good afternoon everyone and welcome. normally, speaker boehner would preside over the ceremony. sadly, his mother passed away. he asked me to send his deepest regrets he is not here. pursuant to hr 1209, we will present a congressional gold-medal to the doolittle tokyo raiders. it is being presented to the raiders for their outstanding heroism during world war ii. after today's ceremony, it will make its way to the museum of the air force in dayton, ohio, where it will be permanently placed. the director of the museum is with us to receive the medal. thank him for being here. [applause] senator mcconnell: we thank you all for being here as well. i hope you enjoy today's remarks. thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen stand for the presentation of the colors by the armed forces colorguard. the singing of the national anthem and the retiring of the colors. ♪ ♪ ♪

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