Photo By Bill Pierce | Brig. Gen. Anthony Digiacomo (left), commander of Special Troops Command...... read more read more
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The Ohio National Guard hosted a ceremony to celebrate the 244th birthday of the U.S. Army June 14 at the Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler Armory.
Brig. Gen. Anthony DiGiacomo, commander of Special Troops Command (Provisional), presided over the ceremony, which included remarks highlighting the U.S. Army, an educational display from the Ohio Army National Guard Historical Collections and an official cake-cutting.
In a long-standing Army tradition, the attendees with the greatest and fewest years of military service assisted the presiding officer with cutting the cake. Cpl. Christina Moore, a human resources specialist with Joint Force Headquarters-Ohio, and retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 William “Jerry” Wilson made the first cut.
“Celebrating the Army’s birthday is a link to the Army’s history,” DiGiacomo said. “The importance lies in that without history we are lost, and without history we make mistakes that we shouldn’t make going forward. The Army’s birthday and celebrating it every year ties us to history and ties us to learn from the Army’s experience.”
The U.S. Army’s history began on June 14, 1775, and this year’s theme reflected on the call to service on D-Day. The invasion of the beaches in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944, during World War II is one of the most notable military battles, and has been written about in books and replicated in films for further generations to value and understand.
Wilson said he recalls hearing the radio news on such WWII battles while growing up in the 1940s. “I always knew there were uniforms out there. I had a cousin in the service who gave me a military hat and I wore that hat to bed every night when I was a kid. Then I joined the Army in 1948 and I wore that uniform for 43 years. I know quite a few people that paid the price for our freedom,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 06.14.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.18.2019 16:12 |
| Story ID: | 328191 |
| Location: | COLUMBUS, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 112 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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