{"id":169380,"date":"2024-05-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=169380"},"modified":"2024-05-06T16:44:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T16:44:46","slug":"daf-leadership-honors-eod-memorial-in-55th-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=169380","title":{"rendered":"DAF leadership honors EOD memorial in 55th year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dressed in the bright whites, deep blues and dense blacks of their service uniforms, Airmen, Marines, Sailors and Soldiers returned this year to honor and remember their fallen explosive ordnance disposal brethren May 4.<\/p>\n

The annual memorial ceremony, in its 55th year, took place at the Kauffman EOD Training Complex on Eglin<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The schoolhouse\u2019s commandant, Navy Capt. Steven Beall, welcomed guests and explained why they return to the memorial on the first Saturday of May each year. This specific Saturday is designated National EOD Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been guided here from different places, different generations and services, united in purpose, driven by conviction and a promise that we remember,\u201d said Beall. \u201cWe will never forget those who gone before us. We will never forget their bravery, courage and sacrifice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The significance of the Memorial brought the Department of the Air Force\u2019s top leadership to the event.\u00a0 Air Force Chief of Staff David W. Allvin<\/strong><\/a> and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David Flosi<\/strong><\/a> were in attendance. Allvin was the keynote speaker.<\/p>\n

Moved by the reverence of the ceremony, Allvin said instead of delivering his planned speech, he\u2019d rather speak from the heart about the honor he felt to be there.<\/p>\n

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Allvin said he didn\u2019t feel right sitting in the ceremony\u2019s place of honor but would rather be among those currently wearing the EOD badge and hearing their stories. He also said he\u2019d rather be among the gold star families and understand the hardships that came with their loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a wound that never really heals. Every first Saturday in May it opens up again,\u201d said the general. \u201cYou may dread this, but you do it because it’s a commitment to the memory and honor of those whose names are on this wall.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Allvin continued saying even if he\u2019d attended the ceremony and sat by himself, he would not have felt alone. He said there\u2019s a shared experience among those in attendance of reverence, honor, commitment and selfless service.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could be sitting anywhere, and I\u2019d have the same sense of gratitude, respect, and absolute admiration for those in the EOD profession,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cCeremonies like this remind us we have something in this country worth fighting for and we should recommit ourselves to the effort.\n<\/p>\n

Each service then presented a wreath with the banner \u201cWe Remember\u201d in front of their specific memorial as each name is solemnly read aloud. This year, no new names were added to the Memorial Wall. The all-service total stands at 344.<\/p>\n

At the ceremony\u2019s conclusion, the area around the Wall got very quiet.\u00a0The only sounds came from the sandy grit beneath the joint-service color guard\u2019s tapped shoes as they marched toward the Memorial to retire the colors.\u00a0The next sounds blasted away the quiet as Eglin\u2019s honor guard performed a three-round rifle volley.\u00a0As the rifle echoes settled and the smell of gun powder filled the air, Taps played to end the ceremony.\n<\/p>\n

Afterward, families and EOD technicians both past and present descended upon the Wall for pictures, to touch the engraved brass name or just remember a fallen hero.<\/p>\n

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U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) — \u00a0 Dressed in the bright whites, deep blues and dense blacks of their service uniforms, Airmen, Marines, Sailors and Soldiers returned this year to honor and remember their fallen explosive ordnance disposal brethren May 4. The annual memorial ceremony, in its 55th year, took place at the Kauffman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":169382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=169380"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169383,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169380\/revisions\/169383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/169382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=169380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=169380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=169380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}