Sunny Skies for the 73rd Annual Cathedral of the Pines Service

Today, this open-air cathedral formally honors all American service men and women who have died in uniform. Granite State Daughters have conducted this annual summer ceremony since 1947, and I was privileged to be invited to speak at this year’s 73rd edition of this rite of summer to reaffirm our American values.

The scenery here is awe inspiring, especially on a clear morning such as the one we experienced on Saturday.  Equally as awe inspiring is the Cathedral’s “Altar of the Nation,” built in 1946 and recognized by Congress in 1957 as a National Memorial to American men and women who lost their lives in war. The stones of the Altar come from all 50 states and from every U.S. President since Harry Truman. There are stones from the battlefields of Lexington & Concord, and Yorktown, where the American Revolution began and ended.  Others came from the battlefields of WWI and WWII, such as the one contributed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower that he took from Omaha Beach in Normandy, site of the D-Day invasion. There are stones from Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, and there is one donated by President George W. Bush from the Pentagon following the attack on America, September 11, 2001.

In addition to the traditional service, New Hampshire State Regent Trish Jackson hosted an enjoyable Friday evening welcome banquet and a Saturday afternoon picnic lunch outdoors beneath a tent on the Cathedral’s property. Throughout the weekend, we used our “sunshine” hands to greet one another and reveled in the warmth of friendship rekindled after a long time apart. It was a grand day to be a Daughter of the American Revolution, to count our blessings as American citizens and to recall the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in service to our nation.