By Michael V. Cusenza
The City marked the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday on Thursday with a breakfast reception at Gracie Mansion.
Mayor Eric Adams called the milestone “a significant moment, and as our national anthem states, the rocket red glare, a bomb burst in the air, gave proof through the night our flag was still there. Those words are so powerful and profound, because the bombs are not often just physical bombs, bombs of terrorism, the bombs of uncertainty when we go and fight in distant shores.
“But it’s the bombs of depression, the bombs of recession, the bombs of COVID, the bombs of not knowing what tomorrow would hold,” Hizzoner continued. “But the consistency of our flag still being there, no matter what, is because of the Army and the other men and women of our military service. And it is the most important entity that makes us who we are.”
Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor Adams said “the consistency of our flag still being there, no matter what, is because of the Army and the other men and women of our military service.”
Adams later told the enlisted, veterans, and their relatives present, “You watered the tree of freedom that allowed us to sit under it to prevent the hate and discomfort of the large and hard rays of the hateful sun. So I want to thank you personally here as you grace Gracie Mansion, but not only those of you who are wearing the uniform, but your family members, because when you serve, they too serve. They too have the feeling of uncertainty and the consistent presence that you give us all to make us feel assured. This is the greatest country on the globe. No one lines our borders to leave America. They line our borders to come into America… Thank you for what you do and who you represent.”
The U.S. Army was formed on June 14, 1775 to fight against the British for independence during the American Revolutionary War.
