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Military Ceremonies and Dignitaries

Photos highlight military and political ceremonies featuring dignitaries giving speeches, honoring veterans, and commemorating events, showcasing respect and memorials.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley speaks during the 21st 9/11 Pentagon Observance Ceremony on Sept. 11, 2022, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexander Kubitza)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley speaks during the 21st 9/11 Pentagon Observance Ceremony on Sept. 11, 2022, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexander Kubitza)
152 assets in this story
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DN-ST-86-03352. Base: Pascagoula State: Mississippi (MS) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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041023-N-2383B-071. Base: Norfolk State: Virginia (VA) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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DN-SC-85-07880. Base: Bath State: Maine (ME) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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William Howard Taft IV, deputy secretary of defense, delivers the keynote address during the commissioning of the guided missile cruiser USS VALLEY FORGE (CG-50). Base: Pascagoula State: Mississippi (MS) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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040928-F-0697K-040. Base: March Arb State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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Guests are gathered on stage during a ceremony at the KSC Visitor Complex held in remembrance of the astronauts lost in the Apollo 1 fire: Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee. Among those gathered on stage are (from left) Faith Johnson, daughter of Theodore Freeman and Martha Chaffee, daughter of Roger Chaffee, Associate Administrator for Space Operations William Gerstenmaier and KSC Director Bill Parsons, plus former astronaut John Young (second from right). Members of the astronauts' families were guests at the ceremony. At the podium is Stephen Feldman, president of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. Behind the stage is the Space Mirror Memorial, designated as a national memorial by Congress and President George Bush in 1991 to honor fallen astronauts. Their names are emblazoned on the monuments 42-1/2-foot-high by 50-foot-wide black granite surface as if to be projected into the heavens.
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Ceremony at Department of Interior South Building marking adoption by Department employees of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division and the 10th Mountain Division as wartime focal points for volunteer activities on behalf of military families
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Visit of Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to Yorktown, Virginia to deliver the keynote address at the 225th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Yorktown. Among other dignitaries on hand for the commemorative events were Virginia Senators John Warner and George Allen, former U.S. Army Secretary John Marsh, French Ambassador to the U.S. Jean-David Levitte, and French Defense Minister Michelle Alliot-Marie.
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President Barack Obama signs the Medal of Honor award citation for Sergeant Kyle J. White in the Oval Office prior to a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House, May 13, 2014. Sgt. White received the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions while serving as a Platoon Radio Telephone Operator assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, during combat operations against an armed enemy in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on November 9, 2007.
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President Bush departs the White House to speak to soldiers about his new policy in Iraq
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Secretary Gale Norton speaking at ceremonies at the War Correspondents Memorial, Burkittsville, Maryland, featuring unveiling of plaque honoring fourprominent journalists killed during war and war-related coverage in Iraq and Pakistan
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President Barack Obama and 'Pride of Midtown' firefighters toast at lunch on May 5, 2011. Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 Firehouse in New York City lost 15 firefighters on 9/11 -- an entire shift and more than any other New York firehouse. (BSLOC_2015_13_161)
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U,S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson provides remarks during a wreath laying ceremony at the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes Monument in Warsaw, Poland, on January 27, 2018.
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President Barack Obama is briefed on the situation in Libya during a secure conference call with National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, right, Chief of Staff Bill Daley, left, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, AFRICOM Commander General Carter Ham, and Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, March 20, 2011.
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Visit of Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he participated in ceremonies commemorating the 144th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, conversed with National Park Service staff and visitors, and toured the Park, including the construction site for the new Visitors Center
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National Park Service Director Fran Mainella at events marking the centennial of the first powered flight, Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina
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001206-F-1166S-004. Base: Camden State: New Jersey (NJ) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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061201-D-7203T-004. Base: Philadelphia State: Pennsylvania (PA) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen, left, who is serving as the National Incident Commander, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, right, brief President Barack Obama about the situation along the Gulf Coast following the BP oil spill, at the Coast Guard Venice Center, in Venice, La., Sunday, May 2, 2010.
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Cuba, Politics, Fidel Castro In Military Uniform Making A Speech From A Podium
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Veterans Day ceremony and aftermath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C., where Secretary Dirk Kempthorne delivered the opening remarks, and joined participating dignitaries including the former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell, along with Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Founder and President Jan Scruggs, Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation Founder and President Diane Carlson Evans, Mary "Edie" Meeks of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation, William Hansen of Lockheed Martin, and William Murdy of Comfort Systems. Ceremony, co-hosted by the Memorial Fund and the National Park Service, highlighted the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
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Visit of Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, Mississippi, for touring, participation in events highlighting the restoration project--funded jointly by the National Park Service and the Friends of the Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign, as part of the National Park Centennial Initiative--aimed at replacing interpretive battlefield markers and conserving the array of bronze statuary and stone monuments at the Civil War site. Joining Secretary Kempthorne for the events, including the unveiling of the first group of 22 metal markers identifying the specific locations of various Union and Confederate artillery batteries during the siege and defense of Vicksburg, were National Park Service Director Mary Bomar, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Chairman John Nau III, and country music star Trace Adkins, among other dignitaries.
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060328-N-0696M-110. Base: Pentagon State: District Of Columbia (DC) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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Pentagon Press Secretary U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Dec. 1, 2022. (DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brittany A. Chase)
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930114-D-9880W-012. Base: Fort Myer State: Virginia (VA) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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DN-SC-86-00916. Base: Groton State: Connecticut (CT) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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Visit of Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to Yorktown, Virginia to deliver the keynote address at the 225th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Yorktown. Among other dignitaries on hand for the commemorative events were Virginia Senators John Warner and George Allen, former U.S. Army Secretary John Marsh, French Ambassador to the U.S. Jean-David Levitte, and French Defense Minister Michelle Alliot-Marie.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry squeezes the hand of 70-year-old Vo Ban Tam - who was part of a team that attacked the Secretary's Swift Boat on February 28, 1969, prompting the Secretary to kill his 24-year-old friend and fellow soldier, Ba Thanh. The Secretary and Vo Ban Tam met on January 14, 2017, at the Nam Can Boat and Bus Station in Nam Can, Vietnam, while the Secretary visited the place where he started his career in public service as a U.S. Navy officer, and learned about war reconciliation efforts and work to curb environmental damage in the broader Mekong River Delta.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Dr. Mick Ukleja gives the invocation at the opening of the Challenger memorial ceremony held Jan. 28 in front of the Space Memorial Mirror at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex. Others participating in the ceremony are Dr. Stephen Feldman, president of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation; Rep. Dave Weldon and Rep. Tom Feeney; William Potter, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation; William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA; Jim Kennedy (second from left), center director of KSC; June Scobee Rodgers, widow of Dick Scobee, commander of Challenger; Col. Richard Scobee, son of Dick Scobee and June Scobee Rodgers; Capt. Frederick Hauck, commander of the first mission after Challenger; Dr. Joseph Allen, astronaut and scientist and chairman of the Board of the Challenger Centers for Space Science. June Scobee Rodgers and Gerstenmaier placed a wreath at the base of the memorial.
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Senator Jake Garn, R-Utah, addresses guests attending the commissioning ceremony for the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS SALT LAKE CITY (SSN 716). Base: Norfolk State: Virginia (VA) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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120629-N-PO203-288 SAN DIEGO, Calif. (June 29, 2012) Dr. Frank Herr, head of the Office of Naval Research's ocean battlespace sensing department, addresses guests during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Department of the Navy's Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) at the Scripps Nimitz Marine Facility in Point Loma, Calif. The 355-foot research vessel, owned by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and operated by the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, conducts investigations in a number of fields, including acoustics, oceanography, meteorology and marine mammal observation.
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051221-N-0696M-513. Base: Kabul Country: Afghanistan (AFG)
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220528-N-NO067-0222 Nettuno, Italy. (May 28, 2022) U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Agencies Cindy Hensley McCain delivers a speech during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, May 28, 2022. The cemetery is the final resting ground of 7,845 Americans who lost their lives while liberating Italy during World War II.
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World War II veteran and former Army Air Corps Lieutenant Richard Hank Sciaroni speaks to the members of the 129th Rescue Wing and assembled guests after receiving the Bronze Star from United States Representative Anna G. Esho, of the 14th Congressional District, California. Rep. Eshoo was instrumental in the effort to award LT. Sciaroni the Bronze Star for his actions during the war. LT. Sciaronis was a navigator on a B-24 that was shot down over Germany, he lead three of his fellow air crew member to safety after more than two weeks behind enemy lines. LT. Sciaroni was never awarded the medal because of interruptions in his chain of command and deaths of senior officers involved. The .... Complete Scene Caption: World War II veteran and former Army Air Corps Lieutenant Richard Hank Sciaroni speaks to the members of the 129th Rescue Wing and assembled guests after receiving the Bronze Star from United States Representative Anna G. Esho, of the 14th Congressional District, California
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040419-N-5390M-001. Base: White House State: District Of Columbia (DC) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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WASHINGTON (Feb. 29, 2016) President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Honor to Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Edward C. Byers Jr. during a ceremony Monday, Feb. 29, 2016 at the White House. Byers received the Medal of Honor for his actions during a hostage rescue operation in December 2012.
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DN-ST-87-00140. Base: Naval Station, Norfolk State: Virginia (VA) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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National Park Service Director Fran Mainella at events marking the centennial of the first powered flight, Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina
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Annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally and related events on the National Mall, with Secretary Dirk Kempthorne among officials on hand
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Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted addresses attendees of the 2022 Columbus Armed Forces Day Luncheon May 20, 2022, at the Villa Milano Banquet & Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio. The luncheon was hosted by the Military/Veterans Educational Foundation, a charitable organization that works to raise public awareness about the military in Central Ohio, funds several scholarships and organizes the annual Veterans Day parade in downtown Columbus.
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