A Tradition of Remembrance

"It needs to be remembered everyday, the flags need to fly." Les Crossett served forty one years in the military including two tours in Afghanistan and he says events like the one held at the Newport Fire Department raise the spirits of the troops.

Les says, "It means a lot to the troops knowing that someone back here remembers them. And that's again why I say this should be remembered every day of the year; the troops are there every day of the year."

Les was overseas protecting our country for his 59th and 60th birthdays but after he retired he arrived back in the states on September Eleventh. "I got home three years ago tonight, I missed this ceremony, I wanted to be here but I got home too late, so I've been home three years from Afghanistan."

For the past eleven years Newport has been honoring those protecting our country but they also remember those who responded to their last call eleven years ago today.

Fire Chief John Butler says, "We can relate to those people, especially in New York City where they went into the towers and they went up the stairs and they told the people how to get out of the building. They saved a lot of people that day, you know there were 20,000 people that were saved that day. And the firefighters, police that were going up, kept going up stairs and they probably knew what they were in for."

            Tonight over a hundred gathered to remember not only those who served but their families as well. Les added, "It's fantastic the way this community, this building will be filled, we had over 100 people last year. We honor our blue star families, that's families that have a person in the services that is overseas and we honor our fireman and law enforcement."