that i got this message from kelly and i was intrigued and i also knew my good friend john ripley who regrettably is not here tonight he died in november. we talked about this book and this wonderful idea happen-- having an idea is not easy there are thousands of ideas for datebook but 999 billion on not worth a darn and two or three are good and you want to be part of that action and kelly's idea is good and it has merit. so we decided, all of us separately it would be a worthwhile endeavor certainly an investment of our time to become involved with the project that has such a noble goal. over a year or two however long it took to get it going and done, it seemed like a lifetime i used to go to the academy frequently because i was on the board of trustees and john ripley lived in annapolis so we would get together. and he is not here to tell you about his store by can tell you how he got involved. but you have to read his essay on courage and not another man is better qualified to talk on courage they and john ripley. he was in vietnam on easter sunday 1970 something 12 hand over han

ripley was one of the biggest heroes i had ever known. i think of what he did, the reason he had to take so many trips to blow that up as our classmate -- so this bridge was built like the george washington bridge and he was under that getting shot out by tanks and troops, wounded three times, finally got 400 pounds and twisted off pepperidge if he hadn't done that i would still be in hanoi because the north vietnamese would have gone down and crashed south vietnam in 72 with no peace agreement and i would be over there so that his wife replete, one of my favorite guy is was a stalwart. snuffy smith, profiles in courage when he went south with the bosnia, scott o'grady had been shot down in an f-16 air force pilot. anyway, he came down and the middle of bosnia and cnn started telling the world where he was showing maps of this year he is and on the ground running trying to invade and the bad guys watch cnn like everybody else trying to pick this guy up. snuffy is that admiral and carrier. the marines are ready to go with rescue the word f