Beavercreek celebrates Veterans Day with international military community

Col. Gerorgios Tzamalis of the Hellenic Air Force, the Foreign Liaison officer for the Greek Air Force to the United States, shared a message thanking American veterans for their service.

“We are here as your partners, as your allies and as your friends to state our deep respect for the veterans of the United States,” Tzamalis said.

Credit: Bryant Billing

Credit: Bryant Billing

Officers from the Air Forces of Chile, Norway, Canada, Australia, Thailand, Spain, Poland and Japan were also in attendance.

Beavercreek Mayor Don Adams paid tribute to all the veterans present and across the country, asking those present to keep in mind those veterans who have “faced homelessness, isolation and unseen wounds of war.”

“They, too, deserve our respect and remembrance,” Adams said. “A grateful nation must do more than speak words of thanks. We must act. To truly honor our veterans is to ensure that none are left behind.”

Tzamalis drew a parallel between the song of the U.S. Air Force, specifically the lyric, “We live in fame or go down in flame,” with the Greek national motto, “Eleftheria i Thanatos,” meaning “Freedom or Death.”

“Living with a multinational community of ours, I soon found out that there are similar references in the national or military culture of all of the countries that are represented here in the Air Force Security Assistance Center, and all have the same one and only basic meaning: We value freedom more than anything,” Tzamalis said.

Credit: Bryant Billing

Credit: Bryant Billing

Walter Chin, the Post Service officer for Beavercreek Post 763 of the American Legion, said that his military service, though unconventional, made him who he is today.

Chin, a first-generation Chinese immigrant, is an Air Force veteran. He married his wife, Deniece, in 1991, was stationed to Germany in 1992, and together the couple worked as part of the Dayton Peace Accords from opposite sides of the world.

“There are too many veterans out there that aren’t aware that the nation is grateful for their sacrifices to keep our democracy and our nation free,” Chin said. “In (veterans’) lives and in their families, there’s a high degree of integrity, character and loyalty to the United States. And for me to be part of that is an honor.”