The Salute To Our Troops parade and celebration in Downtown Raleigh on Saturday was awesome. It was a humbling moment standing there and watching this huge tribute to the brave men and women who are willing to voluntarily put themselves in harms way, if need be, and make the ultimate sacrifice so that you and I can be safe and free.

We have lots of military bases here in North Carolina. Even so, it’s easy to forget that these guys and gals, our neighbors, stand ready to serve whenever called upon.

I do not know what words I might write here that would be sufficient to express the gratitude that I feel towards our armed forces. So, I’ll try quoting something that was said a long time ago.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Enjoy the photos… and yes, that is Senator Elizabeth Dole on the Harley.