Celebrating our Nation's Heroes

And this morning we're highlighting the 29th Annual Veterans Conference for the American Veterans Center. It's a salute to the brave men and women who have fought for our country over the years. And to talk more about the special celebration, which you can watch part of here on Fox 5, is the president of the American Veterans Center, Tim Holbrook. Tim, thanks for joining us this morning. Thanks for having me. You know, one of the things I think is great about this is when we talk about veterans who have served our country over the years, you are literally making an effort to get some of the veterans who have served us not just years, but decades and decades ago to still be able to address some of the folks who are maybe the next generation. Absolutely. You know, over the next few days, we'll be bringing together about 100 incredible stories from the last 85 years of history. Included in that are almost three dozen living veterans of World War II. It feels almost strange to say 85 years now after Pearl Harbor this December that we can still gather that history in one place. That's really precious. And as you noted, they'll be sharing their stories and legacy and history with hundreds of students from ROTC programs, military academies, just this. Great immersion of our shared history, which is really exciting. Well, and one of the things I think you definitely find with those who fight for our country is the respect that they have for those who came before them. So when you have an opportunity like this and whether it's a World War Two veteran who is. I mean, you're not going to find any under 100 years old or many at this point, whether it's them that are still out there making the effort to share their stories, or maybe you have someone who just did their part a few years ago and rose up. What do you hope, message-wise, is passed on from one generation to another? Exactly right. It's that aspirational history that we call it. The people who are willing to step up and to share that legacy and that history from across our 250 years, right? It's all, you know, taking the baton from one generation to the next and understanding, you know, the very best of who we are and who we want to be. And so that's really the message that we want to get across is, you know, trying to do what's right, no matter the time, the place, the circumstances, it's just rising to the challenge. And it's not just military on military here. You have some celebrities that are involved each year that you do this. You have more people that are out there spreading the message and, you know, trying to make sure that those who serve or who have served are honored. Talk a little bit about that and what we can expect this year. Absolutely. Well, of course, it's a great fun mix, not just the history itself, but we have cast from Band of Brothers, you know, the iconic miniseries 25 years ago coming out. So they'll be in town. The new movie Jimmy on Jimmy Stewart's war story in World War II. Of course, everybody knows and loves Jimmy Stewart, but not everybody knows the war story. And so we'll have cast from that movie as well, along with a family of Jimmy Stewart coming out to tell that history too. So combined all together again, it's this great immersion of our shared story of military centric, but of course, wider history beyond that too. And how can we or our viewers learn more about this, follow along, see what's going on, and maybe be a part of it now or in the future? Yeah, absolutely. Visit AmericanVeteransCenter.org. There are still tickets available to come out and listen to the speaker sessions tomorrow, November 6th, Saturday, November 7th, during the day. You can come out and meet a lot of these heroes and be a part of it all. It's pretty incredible when you think about just having the opportunity to hear from a World War II veteran at this point where we are in 2026. So I'm sure everybody's appreciative that you're getting We're getting everybody together, but... Really, this is a time for us to appreciate those veterans who have served and continue to over the years. Tim, thanks very much. I appreciate it. We'll put the information out online. We'll share it with folks, and hopefully they can take part in that as well. Wish you the best. Thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right. Let's turn things over to Tuck right now.