Radio Address: Thank a Veteran on Veterans Day and Every Day

November 11, 2015

(MP3 Audio)

Maine has one of the highest numbers of veterans per capita in the country. With pride, Mainers have always answered the call of duty to defend our State and Nation.

Hello, this is Governor Paul LePage.

On this Veteran?s Day, I ask you to honor the millions of American men and women who have given of themselves for their country since our nation?s founding.

Our debt to these heroes can never be re-paid, but our gratitude and respect must last forever. Ann and I fully support programs for our veterans, including the Hire-A-Vet campaign at the Maine Department of Labor. We want our veterans to return home to good-paying careers that take advantage of the skills they developed serving our country. The campaign?s goal was for 100 businesses to hire 100 veterans. So far, 127 businesses have signed up, and 135 veterans have been hired. Now we are hoping for 200 businesses to hire 200 veterans. Whether you are a veteran or an employer, we urge you to connect with this campaign to help hire our veterans.

To encourage veterans to stay in Maine after their service, we pushed hard to eliminate the income tax on military pensions. We want to welcome veterans from Maine and around the country to settle in our state and bring their skills with them.

Just last week, the Bureau of Veterans Services announced the Maine Veterans Legacy Project, which will preserve the personal stories of our veterans in their own words. The project is now collecting first-person accounts of those who defended the United States during wartime and protected our borders during peacetime. Our veterans are living history, and it is our responsibility to ensure these memories are shared with Mainers for generations to come. WABI TV5 of Bangor is filming and producing the interviews with veterans, and they will be kept at the State of Maine Archives for public viewing.

Ann and I urge you to show your support for our veterans. Just say ?thank you? to the next veteran you meet. Hire a veteran in your workplace, visit a VA hospital or donate to a veterans program.

We must ask ourselves as a nation: Are we serving veterans even half as well as they have served us?

Ann and I are indebted to the families and service members who have given so much for this great country in the name of freedom. We must remember them. We must appreciate them.

God bless our veterans, and God bless America.