Eighty-five feet above the ground Wednesday morning at the Anchorage Veterans Memorial, wind was just enough to unfurl the flag to a slow, full ripple. No breeze stirred at ground level. The base of the memorial was shoveled clear of snow in anticipation of visitors.
Plaques around the base list the names of those killed while serving their country. To paraphrase an old soldier's saying, God sorts them as he will; the Anchorage memorial sorts them by war. The most recent list has the names of those killed in Iraq. The tribute below those names ends with two words:
Carry on.
That's the order of the day today. Carry on.
Carry on with Alaska's long, strong tradition of giving and care to our veterans, current service members and their families.
Carry on in the realms of policy-making, where we need to keep improving the speed and care with which the United States keeps its promises to its veterans.
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