Happy Birthday, America!

On this day that we celebrate America's birthday, we also remember that our freedoms are costly. We remember especially Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor, who sacrificed his life to save others in Iraq. In April he was awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor. Nearly every Navy Seal on the West Coast came to his funeral. During the service, as Monsoor's coffin was taken from the hearse to the gravesite, Navy SEALs lined up in two columns and as the coffin passed, each SEAL slapped down the gold Trident from his own uniform, deeply embedding it into Monsoor's wooden coffin.

"The procession went on nearly half an hour," President Bush said during the ceremony awarding the Medal of Honor. "And when it was all over, the simple wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten.”

Here is the speech President Bush gave at the White House during the Medal of Honor ceremony:



Thanks, Art.