Where Your Feet Stand: Grounded in Freedom, Honoring Our Veterans

The Montgomery News | November 10, 2026

Remarks from Montgomery Veterans Committee Advisor Mike Maloney — a Marine Corps CH-53 aircrew member from 1984 to 1987. Maloney addressed addressed the large crowd of attendees at the Montgomery Township Veterans Day Ceremony on Sunday, November 8 at Veterans Park.

Members of the 6th New York Independent Battery — a family-friendly Civil War Artillery Unit based out of Rahway — fired the cannon at the conclusion of Montgomery Township's Veterans Day ceremony on Sunday at Veterans Park in Belle Mead. Its mission is to educate through living history.

Be Where Your Feet Are.

Bear with me. Please take a moment and look at your feet. 
What do you see?

Being where your feet are means being present — understanding where you are, what you're doing, and what matters at that very moment. 

But today, I'd like to take that expression a step further. I want to talk about the FEAT of being well grounded Americans. 

Our feet support us. They carry us, balance us, and allow us to move forward, change direction, and take our next step without them. Our relationship with the ground changes, and that brings me to today. 

As we stand here on American soil in Montgomery Township, New Jersey, celebrating Veterans Day during our country's 250th anniversary. I ask you to think about the ground beneath your feet to honor, to remember, to be grateful to understand what generations of American service members have served for, fought for, sacrificed for long before July 4, 1776. 


A painting of Gen. Richard Montgomery by local artist Harold H. "Hap" Heins on display in the Montgomery Municipal Building.

Photo by Barbara A. Preston

General Richard Montgomery, our community's namesake, gave his life fighting for a country, yet to be formally declared. He was killed in action on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1775, at the Battle of Quebec. 
He fought for a flag yet to fly, a nation yet to be established, and a people still defining what it meant to even be American. And I will add, he died as did all these revolutionary heroes that we've recently just begun discovering. And today, we stand on the ground, generations of Americans have defended. 


From left: Montgomery Township Veterans Memorial Committee Advisor Mike Maloney, Chairperson Dimitra Bairaktaris, and  Vice Chair Dale Weingart at the township's ceremony on Nov. 9.

Think about that piece of ground under your shoes, under our feet. Every step we take, in any direction, is a reminder of what we have and what others sacrifice to protect. Veterans Day should make us think about the ground.
 Everything we do happens at ground level. We live on it, walk on it, build upon it. We raise families, establish communities, and create our futures on it. 
Grass, pavement, wood, tile, carpet, different surfaces. But beneath them all is the ground that supports our lives. 

An American ground represents far more than a physical surface. 
It represents our home, our country, our freedom, our opportunity. It represents something generations of Americans have been willing to defend. And I want us to think about the veterans whose relationship with that ground has changed forever. Those who lost limbs serving our country, those living with life altering injuries. Those who cannot stand as we stand here today, or face challenges, most of us will never fully understand. Their sacrifices are not always visible. 

So when we look down at our feet, recognize that the simple ability to stand, walk, and take another step, is something we should never take for granted. A well grounded American thinks on their feet. We remember those who served, those who sacrificed, those who came home. Those who never returned. And those whose lives were forever changed. Freedom is not something to take for granted. 


As we celebrate this 250-year milestone, as we honor those who served, understand something — we are not standing at a finish line. We are standing on a path. A pathway generations before us helped establish, and one in which we are responsible for carrying forward. 


Consider what happens every morning when we put on our shoes. Somewhere, an American service member is putting on his boots. They do so with responsibility, uncertainty, and sacrifice. They put on their boots so that we can put on our shoes. So that we can go to work, attend school, raise our families, pursue our dreams, live our lives. So that at the end of the day, we can take off our shoes and the comfort and peace of our homes. That is freedom. That is worth remembering. 

To our children and young adults here today. 
As you put your shoes on each morning, remember this:  Your shoes may be different colors, sizes, and styles. 
But they all carry you forward. I invite you to grow with them. 

A well grounded young American knows where their shoes have been, appreciates where they are today, and thinks about where they're going tomorrow. 
And if it sounds like we're giving you homework, well, we are. 

You already earned an A for being here this afternoon. We want you to keep that A as an American. 
You have a pathway ahead of you, walk it with purpose. Appreciate where you are, and think about the America you will shape. 

We want you happy, hopeful, and free when you meet your future self further down our American pathway. Remember those who stood before us? Remember those who stand for us today? 
And remember those among you, who will stand for our country in days ahead.

Scouting America members with a Montgomery student at the Veteran's Day ceremony.

Photo by Barbara A. Preston

Feet first. Be where your feet are. Think about the ground. Think about the freedom we share. 
We inherit the ground beneath our feet, but we are responsible for what happens next. 

Being a well grounded American isn't simply about where we stand, it's about what we stand for. And our refusal to ever give up that ground to anyone. — Mike Maloney

In closing, 10 years ago, today, on Veterans Day 2016. We planted the a descendant of the last living witness to the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln. It was a 3-foot seedling. That tree in Gettysburg National Cemetery, three years later, in a bad storm, died. So that tree is no longer with us. 

But the tree in the back here in Montgomery Veterans Park with three flags around it, growing proudly, at probably about 15 feet in height now. It is the living offspring of the tree, a honey locust tree, that oversaw the Gettysburg address. 


Please visit Montgomery Veterans Park and take a look at that tree. 

God bless our veterans. God bless our communities. 
God bless Montgomery Township. God bless the United States of America.