may god keep safe those who wear our country's uniform and bennie adkins.ld ask our chaplain to return to the stage. >> let us continue to pray. as we go forth, do not be afraid. have peace and courage and hold on to what is good. and help the suffering. we honor all people, let us love and serve and may god's blessing be upon us to remain with us always. amen. >> and at this point, i would welcome everybody to join the sloat family and adkins family. i hear the food is pretty good. and once again, to all of you who served and your families who serve along with them. the nation's grateful and your commander in chief could not be prouder. thank you very much everybody. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> here at 8:00 eastern, wreath-laying ceremony, followed by the annual u.s.o. service members awards gala. at the event, general dempsey broke out in song. here's a look. ♪

[applause] >> at this point, i'd like to ask bennie adkins to come join me on stage. let me just say the first thing you need to know is when bennie and i met in the oval office, he asked if he could sign back up. [laughter] his lovely wife was not amused. [laughter] most days, you can find bennie at home down in opelika, alabama, tending his garden or his pontoon boat out on the lake. he's been married to mary for 58 years. he's a proud father of five, grandfather of six; at 80 still going strong. a couple years ago, he came here to the white house with his fellow veterans for a breakfast we had on veterans day. he tells folk he was the only person he knows who has spilled his dessert in the white house. [laughter] and i just have to correct you, that makes two of us. [laughter] i've messed up my tie. i've messed up my pants. but in the spring of 1966, bennie was just 32 years old, on his second tour in vietnam. he and his fellow green berets were at an isolated camp along the ho chi minh trail. a huge north vietnamese force attacked, bombarding bennie and his comrad