Photo By Lisa Crawford | On June 29, 2018, Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, Nebraska adjutant general, along with Brig....... read more read more
Subscribe
Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, Nebraska adjutant general, and Brig. Gen. Pat Hamilton of the Texas National Guard joined Ambassador Hynek Kmoníek and Brig. Gen. Jan Bures for an Armed Forces Day celebration, June 29, at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the formation of the Czech-Slovak Army.
“The people of the Czech Republic are grateful to all the soldiers who risk their lives to introduce significant changes for Europe, a way to build the Czech Republic as a sovereign democratic state, as well as Soldiers who fight in order to support democracy and freedom in different parts of our world these days,” Bures said to the crowd gathered at the embassy.
Along with the founding of the Czech-Slovak Army, which occurred on June 30, 1918, the event also recognized the 25th anniversary of an ongoing partnership between the Czech Armed Forces and the Nebraska and Texas National Guard. That relationship, founded in July 1993, was one of the first formed through the National Guard-sponsored State Partnership Program. “We are very proud to be partners with the Czech Armed Forces,” Bohac said. “What an amazing journey we’ve been on the past 25 years, and we look forward to continuing to see that grow.”
The Czech Republic is the only country in the National Guard’s State Partnership Program to be paired with two states, Nebraska and Texas. The states were chosen due in large part to the rich Czech heritage which resides in both states, with Texas having the largest number of persons who claim Czech heritage in the United States, and Nebraska having the highest percentage per capita – nearly 5 percent.
“We share this deep cultural tie that transcends the military and that’s something we are very proud of,” Bohac said.
“This partnership has been so fruitful,” Hamilton said. “Even today as we speak, we have teams of tankers working together, doing operations together in Europe.”
This year also marks 100 years of United States and Czech relations, dating back to the founding of the Czechoslovakia state.
In May 1918, the United States hosted Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, along with other prominent Czechs and Slovaks, for the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement – the first step towards Czech independence. After Germany and Austria proposed peace negotiations in October 1918, Masaryk issued a declaration of Czechoslovak independence while in the United States.
Masaryk was then elected the first president of Czechoslovakia on Nov. 14, 1918, and used the U.S. constitution as a model for the first Czechoslovak Constitution.
Bohac traveled to Washington, D.C., for the event with State Command Sgt. Maj. Marty Baker and Lt. Col. Shane Varejka, joint force development officer and Nebraska National Guard state partnership coordinator.
Together with Hamilton, Bohac presented both Kmoníek and Bures with a shadowbox displaying flags from Texas, Nebraska and the Czech Republic to commemorate 25 years of the shared State Partnership Program. A copy of that shadowbox is currently displayed at the Nebraska National Guard Museum in Seward, Nebraska.
| Date Taken: | 07.02.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2018 12:31 |
| Story ID: | 305838 |
| Location: | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 79 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Nebraskans help celebrate Czech centennial milestone: Czech Embassy commemorates State Partnership Program’s 25th anniversary, by Lisa Crawford, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
