Photo Essay: We Support Our Troops Rally, June 14

Big thanks to Palousitics cub reporter Lauren:


The gazebo at Reaney Park. The American flag in the picture had been flown aboard an Army reconnaissance plane during an operation in Iraq last November.

Rally organizer Rebecca Schwartz. She deserves a tremendous amount of praise for putting this event together.

Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson praised the Guard's service to Pullman and read the lyrics to the Johnny Cash song "Ragged Old Flag."

I related the valor of America's citizen-soldiers throughout our history and how we now have another "Greatest Generation" fighting the War on Terror.

Col. Doug Salmon, USAF (Ret.) spoke of the sacrifices troops make during a deployment and offered insights from his own military experience.

Keith Bloom's daughter Abagail read a poem she had written about how soldiers were her heroes.

Pullman City Councilman Keith Bloom told a great joke about Hillary Clinton and exhorted the crowd on how we could best support the troops, especially the family members left behind.

The cake, courtesy of Dissmores. Dissmores was gracious enough to provide all the refreshments.

Former Whitman County Commissioner Les Wigen (center) was part of the crowd of around 100 citizens (including Palousitics' own Russ and April Coggins and Michael Costello) and four National Guardsmen and their families in attendance at today's rally. There was also a substantial local media presence as well.

Congratulations to all who took part. It was a great event and I was deeply humbled to be part of it.