Photo caption: A B-52 Stratofortress aircraft out of Minot Air Force Base, N.D., flies over the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 13, 2008. The aircraft is deployed to the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and is part of a continuing operation to maintain a bomber presence in the region.   DoD photo by Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald, U.S. Air Force.

American's celebrate Thanksgiving by gathering for large meals featuring turkey and mounds of food, watching football and enjoying each others company.  In my years of active duty, I missed two Thanksgiving's with my family, one was spent on alert with my B-52 crew and one stationed on Okinawa with my fellow service members.  I give thanks this year for the men and women who continue to serve in far flung places but also those who have paid the ultimate price.  Less than two weeks ago, a B-52 crew and flight surgeon were interred in Arlington Cemetery  from a crash near Guam in July this year.  These families will not have a good Thanksgiving but helped ensure we will.  As you sit around the family meal and while shopping, please say a prayer or a toast to the service members who are serving in harms way and those that have already sacrificed through injury or their death.

We salute and give thanks for the service of Col. George T. Martin, Maj. Christopher M. Cooper, Maj. Brent D. Williams, Capt. Michael K. Dodson, 1st Lt. Robert D. Gerren and 1st Lt. Joshua D. Shepherd.   

Caption: Gen. Norton Schwartz hands a folded American flag to one of the family members of the fallen B-52 Stratofortress crewmembers Nov. 14 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. A group burial took place for six crewmembers of a B-52 that crashed off Guam's Northwest coast July 21. General Schwartz is the Air Force chief of staff. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Catherine Thompson)