 
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) – Two years after Ronald Reagan’s death, former first lady Nancy Reagan visited the hilltop gravesite of the nation’s 40th president and gently tapped his tombstone. Â
Two years later, and I still am wishing we had some of Ronald Reagan’s wisdom with us now:
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.
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Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. — Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States
I remember the Reagan years well. I consider myself lucky that when my world expanded beyond me Ronald Reagan was there to show me the way. In fact, in high school we had to do reports on potential presidential candidates and I was given Reagan. I enlisted in the Air Force during Ronald Reagan’s first term and decided to make it a career. My only regret is that I retired one month after his death and don’t have his autographed photo on my wall for presidents that I served under.
Good to hear from you Ak, I hope things are going well for you. He was the best President of the century, and a good one to serve under autograph or not. Thanks for your service to our country friend, and all I have is that I voted for him twice — the world owes a debt of gratitude to Ronald Reagan, and the folks in the military who called him Commander in Chief.